Mokuba Kaiba and the Sorcerer's Stone
by Dixie C Jones
Summary: Harry Potter is orphaned when the Dark Lord kills his parents, attempts to kill him but the curse backfires. When he turns 6, his Aunt and Uncle abandon him in Japan, where he becomes Mokuba Kaiba. After Dumbledore convinces him to attend Hogwarts with Seto as the muggle studies teacher, he has to find the sorcerer's stone before it is stolen, with the help of his new friends.
1. Chapter 1

Harry Potter was treated like any other child. Mostly. He got fed three times a day, though much smaller portions then Dudley-his fat cousin, he slept in the cupboard under the stairs, and he didn't know his name. Well, no, that's not true. His name is Harry, he knew that fairly well. But his relatives called him "boy" or "freak" and Ms. Figg, his babysitter for when the Dursley go on vacation, called him "child," so he didn't remember it to well sometimes.

He tilted his head and looked out the window of the plane. It was dark out and he could see the bright lights from the ground below. He smiled. He finally got to come on a trip with his family! To Japan of all places! The 6 year old black haired child didn't know what happened. Dudley started to throw toys at him the other day and they hurt! He turned away, trying to protect his face, when suddenly, he felt nothing. When he turned to look, there was a barrier in front of him, blocking the toys. His aunt and uncle were also standing there, stricken looks on their faces. He looked at them, fearfully, as the barrier went down. Did he do something wrong? He was so afraid. But now he was going on a trip, with them! Maybe the barrier did some good.

...

Mokuba woke up with a start. He quickly looked around, trying to grasp where he was. He relaxed when he saw his room and not that cupboard from when he was 6.

The younger Kaiba brother then looked his digital clock on his bed side table. 6:47. Mokuba groaned and rolled over trying to catch a few more hours of sleep before his brother came to wake him up. But it was not to be. That dream -memory- would not leave him alone.

Of course, he used to have nightmares like that back when he was still at the orphanage. But they had stopped a long time ago. So why now? He hadn't even thought of the Dursleys for years. Now he couldn't get them out of his head. He scowled as he thought what happened after the plane ride. They stayed for about a week and were actually kind to him. Then the final day came and his uncle called him into the other room. The next thing he remembered was waking up in the orphanage, really beaten up. The scowl turned into a small smile when he remembered who was also there.

...

Everything hurts... What happened? He struggled to remember. Uncle called to him and he walked in and... Then pain. Lots of pain. Did-did Uncle hit him? He opened his eyes and looked around the best he could. It was a fairly bare room. Finally his eyes settled on a slightly older boy with brown hair reading a book sitting by the wall. The boy looked up and met his green eyes with bright blue.

"Yoi ga me o samashite iru." The boy said looking relieved. He had no idea what he just said, though. So all he could do was stare. "Anata wa nihongo ga hanasenai, yo ne?Nani ni tsuite... English?"

He quickly nodded, relieved the boy was talking where he could understand him. The boy gave a small smile.

"My name is Seto. What is your...ah...name?" The brunette asked with a slight Japanese accent.

"I..." He didn't remember. He didn't know his name very well before and it'll come back to him later. But what to tell Seto? "I don't know. I don't remember."

Seto blinked and shut his book. "Well," he started to say as he walked over to the bed. Seto sat down on the edge and looked thoughtful. "Until you remember you are going to need a name. Let's see... We found you in the alley beside the Wooden Horse Market... So how about Mokuba?"

He-Mokuba-smiled and nodded. He'll remember his old name in a little bit but he likes his new name more.

...

Mokuba sat up and stretched. It was 7 now and he knew he wouldn't get any more sleep today. It was then he caught sight of his calendar. July 31. It was his 11th birthday. He beamed and ran out of the room to see if Seto was awake.

"SEEETTTTOOOO!" He called out, his hair flying behind him, as he ran into the kitchen. He slid to a stop as he past the doorway into the kitchen, mind whirling with thoughts of chocolate chip pancakes and spending the day with his brother. The thoughts of Dursleys gone. His smile fell a bit when he caught sight of two men his brother was talking to.

He had a bad feeling about this.

...

Remus Lupin looked up in awe at the giant house his godson apparently lived in. Two dragon statues on either side of the steps, with the marble steps leading up to the blue and white mansion. At least Harry was taken care for, much better then with Petunia and her husband Vernon. Those child abandoners!

It certainly came as a shock when Dumbledore called an Order meeting last month about Harry Potter's disappearance.  
Remus couldn't believe it. Harry was the last member of his pack. He couldn't be gone! He wouldn't believe it until he saw proof. Harry was still out there, somewhere.

When questioned, Petunia yelled at them that as soon as "that freak of a nephew" showed signs of magic, she and Vernon dumped him in Japan. Where he was, however, was still a mystery. They had run out of leads as the Dursley didn't remember where in Japan they were.

It was Arthur Weasley, of all people, that gave them a big lead. He had recently been obsessed with a muggle card game called Duel Monsters and one meeting he had brought a Duel Monster magazine. Of course, Remus recognized Harry anywhere, as he looked just like James but with Lily's green eyes. Harry's hair was longer then it should have been and his green eyes were dulled a bit, more blue, but it was a happy, healthy Harry. Or Mokuba Kaiba as he's apparently called now. In the picture he was standing beside his apparent older brother, a scowling brunette named Seto Kaiba.

Of course, as soon as they found where the Kaiba brothers lived, they were there in an instant. And now, Dumbledore and him were standing in front of their house in Domino City, Japan. Remus looked at Dumbledore.

"Are you sure Harry will even want to come with us? As far as I can tell, he has a happy life and he might not even know Japanese."

Dumbledore smiled. "I'm sure we can convince him. And we have spells for language problems."

He had a point, Remus mused. As they probably won't be allowed inside, so they decided to round the house so they Disapparated straight into the kitchen, startling Seto Kaiba in the process. It was a little rude but they were in a hurry. Kaiba stared at them for a moment with multiple expressions flickering over his face. First was surprised, then was confusion, and finally there was anger. The last stayed when he jumped out of his seat a second later.

"What are you doing here?! How did you get in here?! Get out of here!"

Dumbledore smiled. "You must be Seto Kaiba. We need to talk to you about your younger brother Mokuba." This made Kaiba stiffen. "It seems there has been a mix up. His real name is Harry Potter and he is from England. We are from a school he has been enrolled in since birth and we would like him to come. I am Headmaster Dumbledore and this is Remus Lupin."

Kaiba glared harder and opened his mouth to say something when a shout cut him off.

"SEEETTTTOOOO!

Harry Potter ran in, his longer-than-it-should-be black hair flowing out behind him. He was still dressed in PJs so it's safe to assume he just woke up. He caught sight of them and the smile on his face dropped. He glanced between them and Kaiba.

It was obvious the two wizards gave him a bad feeling.

Dumbledore smiled. "Ah! Harry, my boy! So good to see you in good health!"

Harry looked confused and the slightest bit angry. "How do you know that name? Know what? I don't care. My name is Mokuba Kaiba." Harry turned to Kaiba. "What are they doing here, big brother?"

Kaiba scoffed. "Something about you going to a boarding school in England."

Harry's eyes lit up. "That... sounds kinda cool..." Remus and Dumbledore brightened. It looked like could convince Harry to come after all. Harry, catching the looks, scowled at them. "That does mean I'm going or have plans of going. I'm not leaving big brother."

"Well..." Remus saw Dumbledore was deep in thought before he seemed to get an idea. "We have a job opening for a teaching job and Mr. Kaiba here seems more then capable."

Harry smiled and turned to Kaiba. "Oh, please big brother? It sounds fun!"

Kaiba sighed and turned back to the wizards. "What class am I going to teach?"

"Muggle Studies," Remus answered. The Kaibas blinked and Kaiba scowled.

"What is a muggle?"

"A nonmagic person." Dumbledore looked at him with the twinkle in his eye.

"Nonmagic-you guys are just as insane as Yugi and his band of geeks!" Kaiba yelled and Harry just stepped back, letting it all play out.

Dumbledore merely chuckled and took out his wand before turning Kaiba coffee mug that has long since gone cold to a mouse. Both boys stepped away, looking at the cup-turned-mouse with mixes of shock, fear, and awe. Harry got over it first and smiled at Kaiba.

"Please big brother? Can we go?" He pleaded. "I want to learn how to do that and I know you have no argument on how that was done!"

"Mokuba, I don't think this is a goo-" Kaiba then made the mistake at looking down at Harry, who was staring at the brunette with puppy dog eyes. Kaiba's eyebrow twitched as he tried to resist the power of the puppy dog eyes but even the mighty Seto Kaiba couldn't do it. He sighed. "Fine. I'll take up the postion and you can go to this school."

"Excellent." Dumbledore said brightly. "I'll be sending a good friend by the name of Hagrid to pick you up in two days to take you to get your things for school. Goodbye Mr. Kaiba, Mr. Potter."

And that was how Seto got stuck into teaching at Hogwarts and Mokuba got to learn magic.


	2. Chapter 2

"Seto!" Mokuba called up the stairs. "Have you seen my capsule monster board?! I can't find it anywhere!"

"Ask Roland! I'm sure he'll know!" Came the reply.

They were packing to leave for England. Mokuba was excited and wary at the same time. Excited because he got to go to a real magic school(and his brother had to admit magic was real and Yugi wasn't crazy) and wary because of all this You-know-who business. Everyone was going to treat him like he was some sort of savior even though he did nothing. He was one, for Pete's sake! His time in the orphanage made him wary of any attention he did not earn or gain from his brother. He hoped this person Professor Dumbledore was sending, Hagrid or something, didn't treat him like that. After finding his board(it was in the downstairs closet. How it got there, Mokuba didn't know), he quickly set his bags for the year near the steps and was soon joined by his brother. Mokuba was wearing a blue long sleeve shirt with his orange vest and a pair of blue jeans and Seto was wearing his Battle City outfit minus the coat, much to Mokuba's relief. Before either could say or do anything, however, Roland came in, looking rather nervous.

Seto raised an eyebrow. "Something wrong?" He asked coldly. Mokuba knew he was getting impatient. Hagrid was supposed to be here half an hour ago and Seto didn't like it when people were late. Even if that lateness gave them enough time to finish packing. Roland just looked at his brother and nodded his head back to the doorway behind him. Mokuba stifled a gasp.

A giant of a man was standing in the doorway. His face was almost  
completely hidden by a long, shaggy mane of hair and a wild, tangled  
beard, but you could make out his eyes, glinting like black beetles  
under all the hair.  
The giant squeezed his way into the doorway. He turned to look at them all. "Couldn't make us a cup o' tea, could yeh? It's not been an easy journey..."

"He looks like a duel monster..." was the thought going though both of the Kaiba brothers' heads.

"An' here's Harry!" said the giant, catching sight of Mokuba. Mokuba looked up into the fierce, wild, shadowy face and saw that the beetle eyes were crinkled in a smile.  
"Las' time I saw you, you was only a baby," said the giant. "Yeh look a  
lot like yet dad, but yeh've got yet mom's eyes. But your hair is a little too long."

Mokuba looked at his brother in confusion and frustration. "Why does everybody say that?! What's wrong with my hair?!" Seto nearly chuckled.

Hagrid nodded at Seto and turned back to Mokuba. "Best be Off, Harry, lots ter do today, gotta get ov'r ter London an' buy all yer stuff fer school."

Mokuba scrunched his nose. Good thing Hagrid seemed clueless at the glare he was receiving from Seto. "Mokuba."

Hagrid stopped. "What?"

"Mokuba. That's my name. Harry brings back way too many bad memories."

Hagrid blinked and Seto offered his brother a small smile. "Oh... Er...Right H-Mokuba..."

Seto turned to the giant. "So will our money be good in... Your world?"

"Nah, first stop fer us is  
Gringotts. Wizards' bank." Hagrid said as he led them outside to the back yard.

"Wizards have banks?" Seto seemed interested and Mokuba could almost see the wheels of business turning in his head.

"Just the one. Gringotts. Run by goblins."

Mokuba stopped in his tracks. "Goblins?!" He almost yelled. "Like in Duel Monsters?!"

"Yeah - not even gonna ask what duel monsters is... Anyway, so yeh'd be mad ter try an' rob it, I'll tell yeh that. Never  
mess with goblins, Har-Mokuba, Kaiba. Gringotts is the safest place in the world fer anything yeh want ter keep safe - 'cept maybe Hogwarts. As a matter o'fact, I gotta visit Gringotts anyway. Fer Dumbledore. Hogwarts business." Hagrid drew himself up proudly. "He usually gets me ter do important stuff fer him. Fetchin' you gettin' things from Gringotts - knows he can trust me, see."

He was speaking as if they cared. They certainly didn't but Mokuba was acting interested to be nice. Seto wasn't even bothering, all ready losing interest in the wizard bank. Determined to keep his brother interested, Mokuba began thinking of things to ask that would catch his brothers attention.

"How did you get here?" Seto asked, looking around for a car or something of the sort.

"Portkey," said Hagrid.

"Portkey?"

"Yeah - that'll be how we get there too. Got everything?" Both brothers nodded, hands in their bags. Hagrid smiled and held out a long twig. "Take hold."

Seto raised an eyebrow. "Why?" He asked warily.

"You'll see."

Mokuba and Seto looked at each other and Mokuba shrugged. He grabbed the twig and Seto close behind. Nothing happened and Mokuba saw Seto opened his mouth to say something when Mokuba suddenly felt a tugging on his navel. He really didn't know what happened next as he screwed his eyes shut. The next thing he knew, he was on the ground, a dirty concrete unlike the grassy backyard they were just in, and he was very dizzy.

"Are you ok, Mokuba?" Seto asked. Mokuba nodded and took the hand his brother offered him. He brushed his bangs away, as they were falling in his eyes, and he heard a gasp from the giant in front of him. Mokuba looked up and raised an eyebrow. What was wrong?

"Where's your..." Hagrid asked. "Where's your scar?"

Mokuba blinked. Scar...? What scar...?

"I think he meant that lightning shaped one that disappeared after Duelist Kingdom." His brother said. His face was just a cold and emotionless as usual but Mokuba could see the amusement at his forgetting about the scar that has been there through most of his childhood. Hagrid just stared and Seto decided to change the subject. "Why would you be mad to try and rob Gringotts?" Seto asked, addressing Hagrid.

"Spells - enchantments," said Hagrid, still staring at Mokuba. He slowly turned his attention to Seto. "They say there's dragons guardin' the highsecurity vaults. And  
then yeh gotta find yer way - Gringotts is hundreds of miles under  
London, see. Deep under the Underground. Yeh'd die of hunger tryin' ter  
get out, even if yeh did manage ter get yer hands on summat."

Only one thing truly got to the young CEO. The word DRAGONS. Seto blinked and sent a sharp look Hagrid's way. Mokuba could see the excitement at the thought dragons were real and he smiled. This was one way to keep his brother interested. "Dragons?" Seto asked, voice and outward appearance were calm and cold. "As in real, living, breathing Dragons? They're real?!"

"Ya they're real," said Hagrid. "Crikey, I'd like a dragon."

"You'd like one?"

"Wanted one ever since ever since I was a kid. Too bad it's illegal." Hagrid sad sadly and Mokuba could see his brothers face fall ever so slightly. Oh well. The topic of dragons would still keep his brother interested.

"Just leave your stuff here. Someone will put in your room." Hagrid then led them out of the mostly plain room-it only had a fire place on the wall opposite the door- and into what looked like a pub.

It was very dark and shabby. A few old women were sitting in a corner, drinking tiny glasses of sherry. One of them was  
smoking a long pipe. A little man in a top hat was talking to the old bartender, who was quite bald and looked like a toothless walnut. The  
low buzz of chatter stopped when they walked in. Everyone seemed to know  
Hagrid; they waved and smiled at him, and the bartender reached for a  
glass, saying, "The usual, Hagrid?"

"Can't, Tom, I'm on Hogwarts business," said Hagrid, clapping his great  
hand on Mokuba's shoulder and made his knees buckle. Seto scowled but didn't get involved.

"Good Lord," said the bartender, peering at Mokuba and Mokuba knew what was coming next, "is this - can this  
be -?"

The Leaky Cauldron had suddenly gone completely still and silent.  
"Bless my soul," whispered the old bartender, "Harry Potter... what an honor."  
He hurried out from behind the bar, rushed toward Mokuba and seized his hand, tears in his eyes. "Welcome back, Mr. Potter, welcome back."

Mokuba looked at him strangely. "Kaiba."

The old bartender blinked. "What?"

"You keep calling me Mr. Potter. My name is Mokuba Kaiba."

"No no. You are Harry Potter! You look too much like James Potter not to be!"

Mokuba didn't know what to say. The bartender hadn't listened and everyone was looking at him. The old woman with the pipe was puffing on it without realizing it had gone out. Hagrid was beaming. Then there was a great scraping of chairs and the next moment, Mokuba found himself shaking hands with everyone in the Leaky Cauldron.

"Doris Crockford, Mr. Potter, can't believe I'm meeting you at last."

"So proud, Mr. Potter, I'm just so proud."

"Always wanted to shake your hand - I'm all of a flutter."

"Delighted, Mr. Potter, just can't tell you, Diggle's the name, Dedalus Diggle."

Doris Crockford kept coming back for more.  
A pale young man seemly almost made his way forward, very nervously, when Seto's voice cut across the room. Mokuba never felt so glad to hear that voice!

"I would enjoy you stop crowding my brother, whose name is Mokuba Kaiba."

Seto's death glared was efficient at getting him out of the crowd and keeping others away. Hagrid face fell and walked over to them. Why would he be so sad? He was beaming earlier...

"Must get on - lots ter buy. Come on, Mokuba."  
Doris Crockford tried to shake Mokuba's hand one last time, but Seto intensified his glare. Hagrid led them through the bar and out into a small, walled courtyard, where there was nothing but a trash can and a few weeds.

Hagrid grinned at Mokuba. "Told yeh, didn't we? Told yeh you was famous." Hagrid then started counting bricks in the wall above the trash can, so he didn't see Seto's never ending glare. "Three up... two across he muttered. "Right, stand back, Harry, Kaiba." Mokuba didn't even try to correct him this time. He tapped the wall three times with the point of his umbrella.  
The brick he had touched quivered - it wriggled - in the middle, a small hole appeared - it grew wider and wider - a second later they were facing an archway large enough even for Hagrid, an archway onto a  
cobbled street that twisted and turned out of sight. "Welcome," said Hagrid, "to Diagon Alley."

He grinned at Mokuba's, and even Seto's, though his was hidden better, amazement. They stepped through the archway. Mokuba looked quickly over his shoulder and saw the archway shrink instantly back into solid wall. Mokuba grinned. If people could get over him being Harry Potter, the Wizarding World would be fun!

"Yeah, you'll be needin' lots of stuff," said Hagrid, "but we gotta get yer money first."

Mokuba turned his head in every direction as they walked up the street, trying to look at everything at once and amusing Seto greatly.

Several boys of about Mokuba's age had their noses pressed against a window with broomsticks in it. "Look," Mokuba heard one of them say, "the new Nimbus Two Thousand - fastest ever!" There were shops selling robes, shops selling telescopes and strange silver instruments Mokuba and Seto had never seen before, windows stacked with barrels of bat spleens and eels' eyes, tottering piles of spell books, quills, and rolls of parchment, potion bottles...

"Gringotts," said Hagrid. They had reached a snowy white building that towered over the other  
little shops(though Kaiba Corp. was still bigger). Standing beside its burnished bronze doors, wearing a uniform of scarlet and gold, was something that looked just like a duel monster.

"Yeah, that's a goblin," said Hagrid quietly as they walked up the white stone steps toward him. The goblin was about a head shorter than Mokuba. He had a swarthy, clever face, a pointed beard and, Mokuba noticed, very long fingers and feet. He bowed as they walked inside. Now they were facing a second pair of doors, silver this time, with words engraved upon them that made Mokuba think of Yami Bakura:

Enter, stranger, but take heed  
Of what awaits the sin of greed,  
For those who take, but do not earn,  
Must pay most dearly in their turn.  
So if you seek beneath our floors  
A treasure that was never yours,  
Thief, you have been warned, beware  
Of finding more than treasure there.

"Like I said, Yeh'd be mad ter try an' rob it," said Hagrid and Mokuba laughed.

"That reminds me of Bakura!"

Seto scoffed. "The insane one."

"Seto," Mokuba lapsed into Japanese. "Marik was the one with split personality. Bakura is just possessed." Seto couldn't say anything to that anymore.

A pair of goblins bowed them through the silver doors and they were in a vast marble hall. About a hundred more goblins were sitting on high stools behind a long counter, scribbling in large ledgers, weighing coins in brass scales, examining precious stones through eyeglasses. There were too many doors to count leading off the hall, and yet more goblins were showing people in and out of these. Hagrid, Seto, and Mokuba made for the counter.

"Morning," said Hagrid to a free goblin. "We've come ter take some money outta-"

"We're here to exchange money. Yen for... Galleons?" Seto interrupted Hagrid. The goblin nodded.

"Yes, of course, Sir."

After getting their money exchanged, Hagrid came up and looked at them funny. Seto rolled his eyes and answered the unasked question. "My brother isn't a Potter. Not anymore. We're going to use my money, not the Potter's vault." Hagrid stared then turned back to the goblin.

"An' I've also got a letter here from Professor Dumbledore," said Hagrid importantly, throwing out his chest. "It's about the YouKnow-What in vault seven hundred and thirteen."

The goblin read the letter carefully and Mokuba found himself making up a card in his head for this creature. 1000 ATK and DEF points... Maybe a good effect...

"Very well," he said, handing it back to Hagrid, "I will have Someone take you down to both vaults. Griphook!"

Griphook was yet another goblin. Once Hagrid had crammed all the dog biscuits back inside his pockets, he followed Griphook toward one of the doors leading off the hall, calling back to the brothers to go on to the robe shop. Where was the Robe Shop? Seto turned back to the goblin at the desk and got directions for the Robe Shop.

...

Mokuba entered Madam Malkin's shop alone, feeling nervous. Seto had to go to the other side of the shop to get himself fitted in custom robes. He wanted something as close to his regular outfit as possible and he trusted Mokuba not to get in trouble and that he was close enough to help Mokuba if needed.

Madam Malkin was a squat, smiling witch dressed all in mauve. "Hogwarts, clear?" she said, when Mokuba started to speak. "Got the lot here - another young man being fitted up just now, in fact. "

"Another boy for Hogwarts?" Mokuba thought. "Maybe I could make a friend!"

In the back of the shop, a boy with a pale, pointed face was standing on a footstool while a second witch pinned up his long black robes. Madam Malkin stood Mokuba on a stool next to him slipped a long robe over his head, and began to pin it to the right length.

"Hello," said the boy, "Hogwarts, too?"

"Yes," said Mokuba.

"My father's next door buying my books and mother's up the street looking at wands," said the boy. He had a bored, drawling voice that made Mokuba cringe. This wasn't a good start. "Then I'm going to drag them off to took at racing brooms. I don't see why first years can't have their own. I think I'll bully father into getting me one and I'll smuggle it in somehow."

Mokuba raised an eyebrow. "Two things about what you just said. One, doesn't the wand pick the wizard? What help would your mother give you in that? And two, brooms are against the rules at Hogwarts, right? You shouldn't break the rules before you even get there. Or are you just that much of an idiot?"

The boy's face gained a light pink color, either from embarrassment or anger, Mokuba didn't know. "That accent. Where are you from?" He scowled in Mokuba's direction but Mokuba wasn't effected. Seto's scowl was much more effective. Speaking of Seto, Mokuba was strongly reminded of a childish version of him.

Mokuba raised an eyebrow. "Japan."

The boy glared. "You shouldn't speak of things you don't know about! I'm a Malfoy. I can do what ever I want."

"Oh shut it, you Orokana orokamono(1)," Mokuba smirked. He wasn't usually this mean but this boy was asking for it! "I never heard of Malfoys and I don't care. I'm a Kaiba and I could probably buy you out. You don't know anything about the families in Japan. And it's is against the rules to bring in a broom. What are you going to do with it? Ride it where the teachers could see you? Have fun with that."

"Where are your parents?" The boy asked, looking like he was restraining from yelling at Mokuba. Mokuba guessed he realized that he didn't know anything about families from Japan and didn't want to test his luck.

"They're dead," said Mokuba shortly. He didn't feel much like going into the matter with this boy.

"Oh, sorry," said the other, not sounding sorry at all. "But they were our kind, weren't they?"

"They were a witch and wizard, if that's what you mean."

"I really don't think they should let the other sort in, do you? They're just not the same, they've never been brought up to know our ways. Some of them have never even heard of Hogwarts until they get the letter, imagine. I think they should keep it in the old wizarding families. What's your name, anyway?"

"I didn't hear about Hogwarts until I got my letter. And my name is Mokuba Kaiba. But you, as a wizard, would probably know me better as Harry Potter. Thank you for that terrible first impression."

Before the boy could answer, Madam Malkin said, "That's you done, my dear," and Mokuba, not sorry for an excuse to stop talking to the boy, hopped down from the footstool.

"W-Well, I'll see you at Hogwarts, I suppose," stuttered the drawling boy.

Mokuba just rolled his eyes. Orokana orokamono.

...

They bought Mokuba's school books in a shop called Flourish and Blotts where the shelves were stacked to the ceiling with books as large as paving stones bound in leather; books the size of postage stamps in covers of silk; books full of peculiar symbols and a few books with nothing in them at all. Even Seto, who never showed much emotion, looked awed. Hagrid almost had to drag Seto away from the dragon section.

"I was trying to find a way around that law."

"I'm not sayin' that's not a good idea, but we have more things to buy," said Hagrid.

Hagrid wouldn't let Mokuba buy a solid gold cauldron, either ("It says pewter on yer list"), but they got a nice set of scales for weighing potion ingredients (Mokuba couldn't help but think of the Millennium Scales) and a collapsible brass telescope. Then they visited the Apothecary, which was fascinating enough to make up for its horrible smell, a mixture of bad eggs and rotted cabbages. Barrels of slimy stuff stood on the floor; jars of herbs, dried roots, and bright powders lined the walls; bundles of feathers, strings of fangs, and snarled claws hung from the ceiling. While Hagrid asked the man behind the counter for a supply of some basic potion ingredients for Mokuba, Mokuba and Seto examined silver unicorn horns at twenty-one Galleons each and minuscule, glittery-black beetle eyes (five Knuts a scoop). Outside the Apothecary, Hagrid checked Mokuba's list again.

"Just yer two wands left..."

A magic wand... this was what Mokuba had been really looking forward to, and he could tell Seto was excited too. The last shop was narrow and shabby. Peeling gold letters over the door read Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C. A single wand lay on a faded purple cushion in the dusty window. A tinkling bell rang somewhere in the depths of the shop as they stepped inside. It was a tiny place, empty except for a single, spindly chair that Hagrid sat on to wait. Mokuba felt strangely as though he had entered a very strict library; he swallowed a lot of new questions that had just occurred to him and looked instead at the thousands of narrow boxes piled neatly right up to the ceiling. For some reason, the back of his neck prickled and Seto looked shocked. What did he feel? The very dust and silence in here seemed to tingle with some secret magic.

"Good afternoon," said a soft voice. Mokuba jumped. Hagrid must have jumped, too, because there was a loud crunching noise and he got quickly off the spindly chair. Seto just looked sharply in the direction of the voice.

An old man was standing before them, his wide, pale eyes shining like moons through the gloom of the shop.

"Hello," said Mokuba awkwardly.

"Ah yes," said the man. "Yes, yes. I thought I'd be seeing you soon. Mokuba Kaiba." It wasn't a question. "You have your mother's eyes. It seems only yesterday she was in here herself, buying her first wand. Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow. Nice wand for charm  
work." Mr. Ollivander moved closer to Mokuba. Mokuba wished he would blink. Those silvery eyes were a bit creepy. It reminded him way too much of Shadi...

"Your father, on the other hand, favored a mahogany wand. Eleven inches. Pliable. A little more power and excellent for transfiguration. Well, I say your father favored it - it's really the wand that chooses the wizard, of course." Mr. Ollivander had come so close that he and Mokiba were almost nose to nose. Mokuba could see himself reflected in those misty eyes before Seto pushed Mr. Ollivander away from him.

"Mr. Seto Kaiba." He started to say. "You have a great and terrible magic-"

"Don't start going on about that!" Seto interrupted. "We just want our wands, not a history lesson."

Mr. Ollivander shook his head and then, to Mokuba's relief, spotted Hagrid. "Rubeus! Rubeus Hagrid! How nice to see you again... Oak, sixteen inches, rather bendy, wasn't it?"

"It was, sir, yes," said Hagrid.

"Good wand, that one. But I suppose they snapped it in half when you got expelled?" said Mr. Ollivander, suddenly stern.

"Er - yes, they did, yes," said Hagrid, shuffling his feet. "I've still got the pieces, though," he added brightly.

"But you don't use them?" said Mr. Ollivander sharply.

"Oh, no, sit," said Hagrid quickly. Mokuba noticed he gripped his pink umbrella very tightly as he spoke. He wondered why.

"Hmmm," said Mr. Ollivander, giving Hagrid a piercing look. "Well, now - Mr. Kaibas. Let me see." He pulled a long tape measure with silver markings out of his pocket. "Which is your wand arm?"

"Er - well, I'm right-handed," said Mokuba.

"Hold out your arm. That's it." He measured Mokuba and Seto from shoulder to finger, then wrist to elbow, shoulder to floor, knee to armpit and round their heads, ignoring Seto's glare. As he measured, he said, "Every Ollivander wand has a core of a powerful magical substance, Mr. Kaibas. We use unicorn hairs, phoenix tail feathers, and the heartstrings of dragons. No two Ollivander wands are the same, just as no two unicorns, dragons, or phoenixes are quite  
the same. And of course, you will never get such good results with another wizard's wand."

Mokuba suddenly realized that the tape measure, which was measuring between his nostrils, was doing this on its own. Mr. Ollivander was flitting around the shelves, taking down boxes.

"That will do," he said, and the tape measure crumpled into a heap on the floor. "Right then, Mr. Mokuba Kaiba. Try this one. Beechwood and dragon heartstring. Nine inches. Nice and flexible. just take it and give it a wave."

Mokuba took the wand and (feeling foolish) waved it around a bit, but Mr. Ollivander snatched it out of his hand almost at once. He then gave it to Seto, only to take it out of his hand just as quickly.

"Maple and phoenix feather. Seven inches. Quite whippy. Try -" Mokuba tried - but he had hardly raised the wand when it, too, was snatched back by Mr. Ollivander and given to Seto. It didn't work for him either.

"No, no -here, ebony and unicorn hair, eight and a half inches, springy. Go on, go on, try it out." Mokuba tried. And tried. He had no idea what Mr. Ollivander was waiting for. The pile of tried wands mounting higher and higher on the spindly chair, but the more wands Mr. Ollivander pulled from the  
shelves, the happier he seemed to become. "Tricky customers, eh? Not to worry, we'll find the perfect match here somewhere - I wonder, now - - yes, why not - unusual combination - Cherry and phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple."

Mokuba took the wand. He felt a sudden warmth in his fingers. He raised the wand above his head, brought it swishing down through the dusty air and a stream of blue and gold sparks shot from the end like a firework, throwing dancing spots of light on to the walls. Hagrid whooped and  
clapped and Mr. Ollivander cried, "Oh, bravo! Yes, indeed, oh, very good. Well, well, well... how curious... how very curious..." He put Mokuba's wand back into its box and wrapped it in brown paper, still muttering, "Curious... curious.."

"Sorry," said Mokuba, "but what's curious?"

Mr. Ollivander fixed Mokuba with his pale stare. "I remember every wand I've ever sold, Mr. Kaiba. Every single wand. It so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather is in your wand, gave another feather - just one other. It is very curious indeed that you should be destined for this wand when its brother why, its brother gave you your scar."

Mokuba looked at the wand maker strangely and Seto raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, thirteen-and-a-half inches. Yew. Curious indeed how these things happen. The wand chooses the wizard, remember... I think we must expect great things from you, Mr. Kaiba... After all, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things - terrible, yes, but great."

Mokuba shivered. He wasn't sure he liked Mr. Ollivander too much. He paid seven gold Galleons for his wand, and Mr. Ollivander turned to Seto.

"Here you go, Mr. Seto Kaiba." Mr. Ollivander said, handing Seto another wand. "Pine, 14 inches, white dragon heart string, good for Charms. Very rare."

Seto took it, looking slightly annoyed. Mokuba snickered. Seems today was getting on Seto's last nerves. As soon as Seto took it, however, he gasped and blue, gold, and dark purple sparks came out. Mr. Ollivander smiled.

"Seems you have a connection to Egypt." He said. "The white dragon is native to northern Japan and doesn't do well in hot weather. Imagine the surprise when someone found one living all well and good in Egypt!"

Seto just ignored him and paid him seven more gallons. Mr. Ollivander bowed to them from his shop. Mokuba didn't think Seto liked Mr. Ollivander anymore then he did.

...

At the pet shop, Mokuba begged Seto for a cat. It was black with gold eyes. Mokuba loved cats but knew that Seto wasn't a fan. After a bit, Seto finally gave in. Mokuba got the little black cat, named Kuro, and Seto got a white owl that he named Aoimoku.

...

The late afternoon sun hung low in the sky as Mokuba, Seto, and Hagrid made their way back down Diagon Alley, back through the wall, back through the Leaky Cauldron, now empty.

Hagrid showed them their room then handed him an envelope. "Yer ticket fer Hogwarts," he said. "First o' September - King's Cross - it's all on yer ticket. See yeh soon, Harry."

He then left the Kaiba brothers at the inn. Mokuba looked at Seto, who just shrugged and went into their room.

_**(1) Foolish fool Yay for the Abridge Series!**_


	3. Chapter 3

Mokuba had gotten up early on September 1st, excited for the first day of school. He knew Seto couldn't join him on the train ride, having to get there early and all for preparations, but that just made him want to get to the school even more.

So now he was standing alone in front of 9 and 10. There was a big plastic number nine over  
one platform and a big plastic number ten over the one next to it, and in the middle, nothing at all.

Mokuba's mouth went rather dry. What on earth was he going to do? He quickly shook off those feelings. He was a Kaiba and be damned if he couldn't figure it out! But he was starting to attract a lot of funny looks, because of Kuro sleeping on his head. He'd have to ask someone. He thought about stopping a passing guard, but didn't dare as the guard probably never heard of Hogwarts.

Now running out of ideas, Mokuba was now trying hard not to panic. According to the large clock over the arrivals board, he had ten minutes left to get on the train to Hogwarts and he had no idea how to do it; he was stranded in the middle of a station with a trunk he could hardly lift, a pocket full of wizard money, and a small cat. He didn't even have a credit card as Seto didn't think he would need it. Hagrid must have forgotten to tell him something you had to do, like tapping the third brick on the left to get into Diagon Alley. He wondered if he should get out his wand and start tapping the ticket inspector's stand between platforms nine and ten.

At that moment a group of people passed just behind him and he caught a few words of what they were saying.

"- packed with Muggles, of course -"

Mokuba swung round. The speaker was a plump woman who was talking to four boys, all with flaming red hair. Each of them was pushing a trunk like Mokuba's in front of him - and they had an owl.

Smiling, Mokuba pushed his cart after them. They stopped and so did he, just near enough to hear what they were saying. "Now, what's the platform number?" said the boys' mother.

"Nine and three-quarters!" piped a small girl, also red-headed, who was holding her hand, "Mom, can't I go..."

"You're not old enough, Ginny, now be quiet. All right, Percy, you go  
first."

What looked like the oldest boy marched toward platforms nine and ten. Mokuba watched, careful not to blink in case he missed it - but just as the boy reached the dividing barrier between the two platforms, a large crowd of tourists came swarming in front of him and by the time the last  
backpack had cleared away, the boy had vanished. Mokuba frowned. Not cool!

"Fred, you next," the plump woman said.

"I'm not Fred, I'm George," said the boy. "Honestly, woman, you call yourself our mother? Can't you tell I'm George?"

"Sorry, George, dear."

"Only joking, I am Fred," said the boy, and off he went. Mokuba laughed. He liked those boys. His twin called after him to hurry up, and he must have done so, because a second later, he had gone - but how had he done it? Mokuba was starting to get annoyed.

Now the third brother was walking briskly toward the barrier he was almost there - and then, quite suddenly, he wasn't anywhere. Mokuba sighed. There was nothing else for it.

"Excuse me," Mokuba said to the plump woman.

"Hello, dear," she said. "First time at Hogwarts? Ron's new, too." She pointed at the last and youngest of her sons. He was tall, thin, and gangling, with freckles, big hands and feet, and a long nose.

"Yes," said Mokuba. "The thing is, I don't know how to-"

"How to get onto the platform?" she said kindly, and Mokuba nodded, trying not to show irritation at being interrupted. She was being very kind, after all.

"Not to worry," she said. "All you have to do is walk straight at the barrier between platforms nine and ten. Don't stop and don't be scared you'll crash into it, that's very important. Best do it at a bit of a run if you're nervous. Go on, go now before Ron."

"Er - okay," said Mokuba. That didn't sound right but oh well. He pushed his trolley around and stared at the barrier. It looked very solid. He started to walk toward it. People jostled him on their way to platforms nine and ten. Mokuba walked more quickly. He was going to smash right into that barrier and then he'd be in trouble - leaning forward on his cart, he broke into a heavy run - the barrier was coming nearer and nearer - he wouldn't be able to stop - the cart was out of control - he was a foot away - he closed his eyes ready for the crash - It didn't come... he kept on running... he opened his eyes. A scarlet steam engine was waiting next to a platform packed with people. A sign  
overhead said Hogwarts Express, eleven O'clock. Mokuba looked behind him and saw a wrought-iron archway where the barrier had been, with the words Platform Nine and Three-Quarters on it. Mokuba smiled. He had done it.

Smoke from the engine drifted over the heads of the chattering crowd, while cats of every color wound here and there between their legs. Owls hooted to one another in a disgruntled sort of way over the babble and the scraping of heavy trunks. The first few carriages were already packed with students, some hanging out of the window to talk to their families, some fighting over seats.

Mokuba pushed his cart off down the platform in search of an empty seat. He passed a round-faced boy who was saying, "Gran, I've lost my toad again."

"Oh, Neville," he heard the old woman sigh.

A boy with dreadlocks was surrounded by a small crowd.

"Give us a look, Lee, go on."

The boy lifted the lid of a box in his arms, and the people around him shrieked and yelled as something inside poked out a long, hairy leg. Mokuba pressed on through the crowd until he found an empty compartment near the end of the train. He put Kuro down on the seat so he wouldn't fall off his head and then started to shove and heave his trunk toward the train door. He tried to lift it  
up the steps but could hardly raise one end and twice he dropped it painfully on his foot.

"Want a hand?" It was one of the red-haired twins he'd followed through the barrier.

"Yes, please," Mokuba panted.

"Oy, Fred! C'mere and help!" With the twins' help, Mokuba's trunk was at last tucked away in a corner of the compartment.

"Thanks," said Mokuba, pushing his sweaty hair out of his eyes.

"What's your name?" said one of twins, smiling.

Mokuba smiled back. "Kaiba. Mokuba Kaiba. I'm from Japan."

Suddenly, a voice came floating in through the train's open door. "Fred? George? Are you there?"

"Coming, Mom."

With a last look at Mokuba, the twins hopped off the train. Mokuba sat down next to the window where he started to play with Kuro. The small black cat just woke up and was in a very playful mode.

A whistle sounded, startling Mokuba and making Kuro jump back onto his head. Mokuba caught sight of the red hair family outside.

"Hurry up!" their mother said, and the three boys clambered onto the train. They leaned out of the window for her to kiss them good-bye, and their younger sister began to cry.

"Don't, Ginny, we'll send you loads of owls."

"We'll send you a Hogwarts toilet seat."

"George!"

"Only joking, Mom."

The train began to move. Mokuba saw the boys' mother waving and their sister, half laughing, half crying, running to keep up with the train until it gathered too much speed, then she fell back and waved.

Mokuba watched the girl and her mother disappear as the train rounded the corner and wished Seto was there with him. He watched as houses flashed past the window and felt a great leap of  
excitement. He didn't know what he was going to but it had to be awesome!

The door of the compartment slid open and the youngest redheaded boy came in. "Anyone sitting there?" he asked, pointing at the seat opposite Mokuba. "Everywhere else is full."

Mokuba shook his head and the boy sat down. He glanced at Mokuba and then looked quickly out of the window, pretending he hadn't looked. Mokuba saw he had a black mark on his nose.

"Hey, Ron."

The twins were back.

"Listen, we're going down the middle of the train - Lee Jordan's got a giant tarantula down there."

"Right," mumbled Ron.

"Mokuba," said the other twin, "did we introduce ourselves? Fred and George Weasley. And this is Ron, our brother. See you later, then."

"Bye," said Mokuba and Ron. The twins slid the compartment door shut behind them.

"Are all your family wizards?" asked Mokuba, who found the silence to be disturbing.

"Er - Yes, I think so," said Ron. "I think Mom's got a second cousin who's an accountant, but we never talk about him."

"So you must know loads of magic already."

Mokuba wondered if Ron would be anything like that pale kid from Diagon Alley. He sure hoped not.

"Do you live with Muggles?" asked Ron. "What are they like?"

"Wonderful! At least my life was." Mokuba said then stopped. "I don't know how much else I can say without sounding like I was bragging..."

"Keep going." Ron said. "I know you're not bragging."

"Well, to put it simply, I'm rich." Mokuba watched Ron's eyes widen. "My older brother owns a very popular company in Japan, where I live. I'm the vice president. Though it would be cool to have three older brothers."

"Five," said Ron. For some reason, he was looking gloomy. "I'm the sixth in our family to go to Hogwarts. You could say I've got a lot to live up to. Bill and Charlie have already left - Bill was head boy and Charlie was captain of Quidditch. Now Percy's a prefect. Fred and George mess around a lot, but they still get really good marks and everyone thinks they're really funny. Everyone expects me to do as well as the others, but if I do, it's no big deal, because they did it first. You never get anything new, either, with five brothers. I've got Bill's old robes, Charlie's old wand, and Percy's old rat."

Ron reached inside his jacket and pulled out a fat gray rat, which was asleep. Luckily, Kuro had fallen asleep again on Mokuba's head.

"His name's Scabbers and he's useless, he hardly ever wakes up. Percy got an owl from my dad for being made a prefect, but they couldn't aff- I mean, I got Scabbers instead." Ron's ears went pink. He seemed to think he'd said too much, because he went back to staring out of the window. Mokuba didn't think there was anything wrong with not being able to afford an owl. After all, he'd never had any money in his life until a few years ago, and he told Ron so, though only vaguely about the orphanage. This seemed to cheer Ron up, though Mokuba didn't know why. "... and until Dumbledore and Lupin-San told me, I didn't know anything about being a wizard or Voldemort."

Ron gasped.

"What?" said Mokuba.

"You said You-Know-Who's name!" said Ron, sounding both shocked and impressed.

"I'm not trying to be brave or anything, saying the name," said Mokuba, "I just never knew you shouldn't. See what I mean? I've got loads to learn... I bet," he added, voicing for the first time something that had been worrying him a lot lately, "I bet I'm the worst in the class. Though maybe not the one my brother's teaches."

"You won't be. There's loads of people who come from Muggle families and they learn quick enough."

While they had been talking, the train had carried them out of London. Now they were speeding past fields full of cows and sheep. They were quiet for a time, watching the fields and lanes flick past. Around half past twelve there was a great clattering outside in the corridor and a smiling, dimpled woman slid back their door and said, "Anything off the cart, dears?"

Mokuba, who been too excited to have any breakfast, leapt to his feet, but Ron's ears  
went pink again and he muttered that he'd brought sandwiches. Mokuba went out into the corridor. He had pockets rattling with gold and silver and was ready to buy as many Mars Bars as he could carry - but the woman didn't have Mars Bars. What she did have were Bettie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, Chocolate Frogs, Pumpkin Pasties, Cauldron Cakes, Licorice  
Wands, and a number of other strange things Mokuba had never seen in his life. Not wanting to miss anything, he got some of everything and paid the woman eleven silver Sickles and seven bronze Knuts.

Ron stared as Mokuba brought it all back in to the compartment and tipped it onto an empty seat. "Hungry, are you?"

"Starving," said Mokuba, taking a large bite out of a pumpkin pasty and feeding some to Kuro.  
Ron had taken out a lumpy package and unwrapped it. There were four sandwiches inside. He pulled one of them apart and said,

"She always forgets I don't like corned beef."

"Swap you for one of these," said Mokuba, holding up a pasty. "Go on -"

"You don't want this, it's all dry," said Ron. "She hasn't got much time," he added quickly, "you know, with five of us."

"Go on, have a pasty," said Mokuba, who had never had anyone other then his brother to share with before. It was a nice feeling, sitting there with Ron, eating their way through all Mokuba's pasties, cakes, and candies (the sandwiches lay forgotten).

"What are these?" Mokuba asked Ron, holding up a pack of Chocolate Frogs.  
"They're not really frogs, are they?" He was starting to feel that nothing would surprise him.

"No," said Ron. "But see what the card is. I'm missing Agrippa."

"What?"

"Oh, of course, you wouldn't know - Chocolate Frogs have cards, inside them, you know, to collect - famous witches and wizards. I've got about five hundred, but I haven't got Agrippa or Ptolemy."

Mokuba unwrapped his Chocolate Frog and picked up the card. It showed a man's face. He wore half- moon glasses, had a long, crooked nose, and flowing silver hair, beard, and mustache. Underneath the picture was the name Albus Dumbledore.

"Its Dumbledore!" said Mokuba. "But I like Duel Monsters better."

"What's Duel Monsters?"

"If we get into the same house, I'll explain it to you." Mokuba turned over his card and read:

ALBUS DUMBLEDORE  
CURRENTLY HEADMASTER OF HOGWARTS

Considered by many the greatest wizard of modern times, Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood, and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel. Professor Dumbledore  
enjoys chamber music and tenpin bowling.

Mokuba turned the card back over and saw, to his astonishment, that Dumbledore's face had disappeared."He's gone!"

"Well, you can't expect him to hang around all day," said Ron. "He'll be back. No, I've got Morgana again and I've got about six of her... do you want it? You can start collecting."

Ron's eyes strayed to the pile of Chocolate Frogs waiting to be unwrapped.

"Help yourself," said Mokuba. "But in, you know, the Muggle world, people just stay put in photos."

"Do they? What, they don't move at all?" Ron sounded amazed. "weird!"

Mokuba laughed at Ron's reaction then stared as Dumbledore sidled back into the picture on his card and gave him a small smile. Ron was more interested in eating the frogs than looking at the Famous Witches and Wizards cards, but Mokuba couldn't keep his eyes off them. Soon he had not only Dumbledore and Morgana, but Hengist of Woodcroft, Alberic Grunnion, Circe, Paracelsus, and Merlin. He finally tore his eyes away from the druidess Cliodna, who was scratching her nose, to open a bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans.

"You want to be careful with those," Ron warned Mokuba. "When they say every flavor, they mean every flavor - you know, you get all the ordinary ones like chocolate and peppermint and mar-malade, but then you can get spinach and liver and tripe. George reckons he had a boogerflavored  
one once."

"How did he know that?"

Ron shrugged and picked up a green bean, looked at it carefully, and bit into a corner."Bleaaargh - see? Sprouts."

They had a good time eating the Every Flavor Beans. Mokuba got toast, coconut, baked bean, strawberry, curry, grass, coffee, sardine, and was even brave enough to nibble the end off a funny gray one Ron wouldn't touch, which turned out to be pepper. He also got a cat food flavor one that he only nibbled, not trusting it's color, so he gave the rest of it to Kuro.

The countryside now flying past the window was becoming wilder. The neat fields had gone. Now there were woods, twisting rivers, and dark green hills. There was a knock on the door of their compartment and the round-faced boy Mokuba had passed on platform nine and threequarters came in. He looked tearful.

"Sorry," he said, "but have you seen a toad at all?"

When they shook their heads, he wailed, "I've lost him! He keeps getting away from me!"

"Here," said Mokuba, holding up a chocolate frog.

"Thanks," said the boy laughing miserably and took the sweet. "Well, if you see him..." He left.

"Don't know why he's so bothered," said Ron. "If I'd brought a toad I'd lose it as quick as I could. Mind you, I brought Scabbers, so I can't talk." The rat was still snoozing on Ron's lap. "He might have died and you wouldn't know the difference," said Ron in disgust. "I tried to turn him yellow yesterday to make him more interesting, but the spell didn't work. I'll show you, look..."

He rummaged around in his trunk and pulled out a very battered-looking wand. It was chipped in places and something white was glinting at the end. "Unicorn hair's nearly poking out. Anyway," He had just raised his wand when the compartment door slid open again. The toadless boy was back, but this time he had a girl with him. She was already wearing her new Hogwarts robes.

"Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one," she said. She had a bossy sort of voice, lots of bushy brown hair, and rather large front teeth.

"We've already told him we haven't seen it," said Ron, but the girl wasn't listening, she was looking at the wand in his hand. "Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see it, then." She sat down. Ron looked taken aback.

"Er - all right." He cleared his throat. "Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow." He waved his wand, but nothing happened. Scabbers stayed gray and fast  
asleep.

"Are you sure that's a real spell?" said the girl. "Well, it's not very good, is it? I've tried a few simple spells just for practice and it's all worked for me. Nobody in my family's magic at all, it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, I mean, it's the very best school of witchcraft there is, I've heard - I've learned all our course books by heart, of course, I just hope it will be enough - I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you." She said all this very fast.

Mokuba looked at Ron, and was amused to see his stunned face.

"I'm Ron Weasley," Ron muttered.

"Mokuba Kaiba," said Mokuba.

"Are you really?" said Hermione. "I've heard of you! I've never been a big fan of Duel Monsters but you're still famous."

Mokuba blushed and Hermione got the message and changed the subject.

"Do either of you know what house you'll be in? I've been asking around, and I hope I'm in Gryffindor, it sounds by far the best; I hear Dumbledore himself was in it, but I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad..."

"You shouldn't judge a house before you get there." Mokuba said. "You may very well belong in Hufflepuff or Syltherin."

Hermione looked at him strangely but continued talking. "Anyway, we'd better go and look for Neville's toad. You two had better change, you know, I expect we'll be there soon."

And she left, taking the toadless boy with her.

"Whatever house I'm in, I hope she's not in it," said Ron. Mokuba didn't say anything to that. Ron threw his wand back into his trunk. "Stupid spell - George gave it to me, bet he knew it was a dud."

"What house are your brothers in?" asked Mokuba.

"Gryffindor," said Ron. Gloom seemed to be settling on him again. "Mom and Dad were in it, too. I don't know what they'll say if I'm not. I don't suppose Ravenclaw would be too bad, but imagine if they put me in Slytherin."

"That's stupid! You're not your family! You might have a family trait, like being stubborn or having a temper, but you shouldn't be expected be in the same house."

"But what if I'm in Syltherin?"

"That's the house Vol-, I mean, You-Know-Who was in?"

"Yeah," said Ron. He flopped back into his seat, looking depressed.

"You know, I think the ends of Scabbers' whiskers are a bit lighter," said Mokuba, trying to take Ron's mind off houses. He didn't want to be on that subject anymore. "So what do your oldest brothers do now that they've left, anyway?" Mokuba was wondering what a wizard did once he'd finished school.

"Charlie's in Romania studying dragons, and Bill's in Africa doing something for Gringotts," said Ron. "Did you hear about Gringotts? It's been all over the Daily Prophet, but I don't suppose you get that with the Muggles - someone tried to rob a high security vault."

Mokuba stared. And hoped Bakura didn't have anything to do with it, as stupid as it was.

"Really? What happened to them?"

"Nothing, that's why it's such big news. They haven't been caught. My dad says it must've been a powerful Dark wizard to get round Gringotts, but they don't think they took anything, that's what's odd. 'Course, everyone gets scared when something like this happens in case You-Know-Who's behind it."

Mokuba turned this news over in his mind. He, as stupid as it was, was starting to get a prickle of fear every time You- Know-Who was mentioned. He supposed this was all part of entering the magical world, but it had been a lot more comfortable saying "Voldemort" without worrying. He made a mental note just to call him by name for now on.

"What's your Quidditch team?" Ron asked.

"I don't know any," Mokuba confessed. "Muggles, remember?"

"What!" Ron looked dumbfounded. "Oh, you wait, it's the best game in the world -" And he was off, explaining all about the four balls and the positions of the seven players, describing famous games he'd been to with his brothers and the broomstick he'd like to get if he had the money. He was just taking Mokuba through the finer points of the game when the compartment door slid open yet again, but it wasn't Neville the toadless boy, or Hermione Granger this time.

Three boys entered, and Mokuba recognized the middle one at once: it was the pale boy from Madam Malkin's robe shop. He was looking at Mokuba with a lot more interest than he'd shown back in Diagon Alley.

"There you are." he said. "I came to apologize. I shouldn't have been so rude, Harry."

"Apology accepted," said Mokuba. "But please, call me Mokuba." He was looking at the other boys. Both of them were thickset and looked extremely mean. Standing on either side of the pale boy, they looked like bodyguards.

Ron looked at him, confused. "Harry? You said your name is Mokuba."

The pale boy scowled. "You haven't told him?" He then turned to Ron. "This is Harry Potter!" Rob looked at Mokuba, shocked. The pale boy turned back to Mokuba. "Oh, this is Crabbe and this is Goyle," said the pale boy carelessly, noticing where Mokuba was still looking. "And my name's Malfoy, Draco Malfoy." Ron gave a slight cough, which might have been hiding a snicker. Draco  
Malfoy looked at him. "Think my name's funny, do you? No need to ask who you are. My father  
told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles, and more children than  
they can afford." He turned back to Mokuba. "You'll soon find out some wizarding families are much better than others, Potter. You don't want to go making friends-"

"You," Mokuba cut in. "Can stop right there." He glared at Draco. "I'll be your friend but I will not let you make fun of my friends. And how do you know what Ron is like?"

"Well, my father said-"

"I don't care what your father says." Mokuba cut him off again, making his face get a pink tinge. "You are not your father and you are the one to go to school with him for the next 7 years. Stop taking your daddy's word for everything. Even I don't take my brother's word for everything!" Mokuba smirked. "And my last name is Kaiba," he said coolly.

Draco just glared and left the compartment.

Ron looked at Mokuba in awe. "You're Harry Potter?!"

Mokuba cringed. "Technically yes but please don't tell anyone!" Ron looked confused and Mokuba sighed. "I am Mokuba Kaiba, younger brother of Seto Kaiba, the Vice president of Kaiba Corp., and reigning Capsule Monster Chess Champion. I haven't been Harry Potter since I was 6. And I have nothing of bad memories of that time."

Ron looked like he understood but before he could do anything, Hermione Granger had come in. "What has been going on?" she said, looking at the sweets all over the floor.

"You've met Malfoy before?" Ron asked, ignoring Hermione.

Mokuba explained about their meeting in Diagon Alley.

"I've heard of his family," said Ron darkly. "They were some of the first to come back to our side after You-Know-Who disappeared. Said they'd been bewitched. My dad doesn't believe it. He says Malfoy's father didn't need an excuse to go over to the Dark Side." He turned to Hermione. "Can we help you with something?"

"You'd better hurry up and put your robes on, I've just been up to the front to ask the conductor, and he says we're nearly there. You haven't been fighting, have you? You'll be in trouble before we even get there!"

"Would you mind leaving while we change?" said Ron, scowling at her

"All right - I only came in here because people outside are behaving very childishly, racing up and down the corridors," said Hermione in a sniffy voice. "And you've got dirt on your nose, by the way, did you know?"

Ron glared at her as she left. Mokuba looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Did you not hear anything I just said to Malfoy?" Ron just looked confused. "Nevermind..." Mokuba peered out of the window. It was getting dark. He could see mountains and forests under a deep purple sky. The train did seem to be slowing down.

He and Ron took off their jackets and pulled on their long black robes. Ron's were a bit short for him, you could see his sneakers underneath them.

A voice echoed through the train: "We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately."

Mokuba's stomach lurched with excitement and Ron, he saw, looked pale under his freckles. They crammed their pockets with the last of the sweets and joined the crowd thronging the corridor.

The train slowed right down and finally stopped. People pushed their way toward the door and out on to a tiny, dark platform. Mokuba shivered in the cold night air. Then a lamp came bobbing over the heads of the students, and Mokuba heard a familiar voice:

"Firs' years! Firs' years over here! All right there, Mokuba?" Hagrid's big hairy face beamed over the sea of heads and Mokuba was relived Hagrid got his name right. "C'mon, follow me - any more firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!"

Slipping and stumbling, they followed Hagrid down what seemed to be a steep, narrow path. It was so dark on either side of them that Mokuba thought there must be thick trees there. Nobody spoke much. Neville, the boy who kept losing his toad, sniffed once or twice.

"Ye' all get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid called over his shoulder, "jus' round this bend here." There was a loud "Oooooh!" The narrow path had opened suddenly onto the edge of a great black take. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers.

"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore. Mokuba and Ron were followed into their boat by Draco and Hermione. Mokuba grinned at Draco who just turned his head, grumbling. Maybe there was hope for him. "Everyone in?" shouted Hagrid, who had a boat to himself. "Right then - FORWARD!"

And the fleet of little boats moved off all at once, gliding across the lake, which was as smooth as glass. Everyone was silent, staring up at the great castle overhead. It towered over them as they sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood. "Heads down!" yelled Hagrid as the first boats reached the cliff; they all bent their heads and the little boats carried them through a curtain of ivy that hid a wide opening in the cliff face. They were carried along a dark tunnel, which seemed to be taking them right underneath the castle, until they reached a kind of underground harbor, where they clambered out onto rocks and pebbles. "Oy, you there! Is this your toad?" said Hagrid, who was checking the boats as people climbed out of them.

"Trevor!" cried Neville blissfully, holding out his hands. Then they clambered up a passageway in the rock after Hagrid's lamp, coming out at last onto smooth, damp grass right in the shadow of the castle.

They walked up a flight of stone steps and crowded around the huge, Oak front door. "Everyone here? You there, still got yer toad?" Hagrid raised a gigantic fist and knocked three times on the castle door.


	4. Chapter 4

The door swung open at once. A tall, black-haired witch in emerald-green robes stood there. She had a very stern face and Mokuba's first thought was that this was not someone to cross.

"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," said Hagrid.

"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here." She pulled the door wide. The entrance hall was so big you could have fit the whole of the Game shop in it. The stone walls were lit with flaming torches like the ones at Gringotts, the ceiling was too high to make out, and a magnificent marble staircase facing them led to the upper floors.

They followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor. Mokuba could hear the drone of hundreds of voices from a doorway to the right. The rest of the school must already be here, but Professor McGonagall showed the first years into a small, empty chamber off the hall. They crowded in, standing rather closer together than they would usually have done, peering about nervously.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room. The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced  
outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rulebreaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours. The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the  
rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting."

Her eyes lingered for a moment on Neville's cloak, which was fastened under his left ear, and on Ron's smudged nose. Mokuba felt she was glaring at his hair too.

"I shall return when we are ready for you," said Professor McGonagall. "Please wait quietly."

She left the chamber.

Mokuba looked around and his eyes fell on Ron beside him. "How exactly do they sort us into houses?" he asked Ron.

"Some sort of test, I think. Fred said it hurts a lot, but I think he was joking."

Mokuba shook his head. A test? In front of the whole school? Tying to calm down, Mokuba turned to Draco beside him. "Do you know?"

"I asked my father but he wouldn't tell me. Says it was supposed to be a surprise."

He looked around anxiously and saw that everyone else looked terrified, too. No one was talking much except Hermione Granger, who was whispering very fast about all the spells she'd learned and wondering which one she'd need. Mokuba turned back to Draco, as Ron was talking to another kid on the other side of him.

"You'll still be my friend even if we're not in the same house, right?"

Draco looked at him for a moment then nodded.

Mokuba sighed then smiled, though it was short lived. He'd never been more nervous. He kept his eyes fixed on the door. Any second now, Professor McGonagall would come back and lead him to his doom.

"Dramatic, Mokuba." He thought, laughing silently.

Then something happened that made him jump about a foot in the air - several people behind him screamed.

"What the -?" He gasped. So did the people around him. About twenty ghosts had just  
streamed through the back wall. Pearly-white and slightly transparent, they glided across the room talking to one another and hardly glancing at the first years. They seemed to be arguing. What looked like a fat little monk was saying: "Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance -"

"My dear Friar, haven't we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name and you know, he's not really even a ghost - I say, what are you all doing here?" A ghost wearing a ruff and tights had suddenly noticed the first years.

Nobody answered.

"New students!" said the Fat Friar, smiling around at them. "About to be Sorted, I suppose?" A few people nodded mutely. "Hope to see you in Hufflepuff!" said the Friar. "My old house, you know."

"Move along now," said a sharp voice. "The Sorting Ceremony's about to  
start."

Professor McGonagall had returned. One by one, the ghosts floated away through the opposite wall.

"Now, form a line," Professor McGonagall told the first years, "and follow me."

Feeling oddly as though his legs had turned to lead, Mokuba got into line behind Draco, with Ron behind him, and they walked out of the chamber, back across the hall, and through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall.

Mokuba had never even imagined such a strange and splendid place. It was lit by thousands and thousands of candles that were floating in midair over four long tables, where the rest of the students were sitting. These tables were laid with glittering golden plates and goblets.

At the top of the hall was another long table where the teachers were sitting.  
Professor McGonagall led the first years up here, so that they came to a halt in a line facing the other students, with the teachers behind them. The hundreds of faces staring at them looked like pale lanterns in the flickering candlelight. Dotted here and there among the students, the ghosts shone misty silver. Mainly to avoid all the staring eyes, Mokuba looked upward and saw a velvety black ceiling dotted with stars. He heard Hermione whisper, "Its bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in Hogwarts, A History."

It was hard to believe there was a ceiling there at all, and that the Great Hall didn't simply open on to the heavens.

Mokuba finally looked up to the Teachers table and caught sight of Seto, who waved. Mokuba waved back and got Draco and Ron's attention and pointed his brother out. "That's my older brother. He's teaching Muggle Studies."

Ron nodded and said, "Too bad we can't take Muggle Studies until our third year."

Draco scoffed. "Who would want to study muggles?"

Before Mokuba could answer, Professor McGonagall silently placed a four-legged stool in front of the first years. On top of the stool she put a pointed wizard's hat. This hat was patched and frayed and  
extremely dirty.

Maybe they had to try and get a rabbit out of it, Mokuba thought, laughing mentally. That seemed the sort of thing - noticing that everyone in the hall was now staring at the hat, he stared at it, too. For a few seconds, there was complete silence. Then the hat twitched. A rip near the brim opened wide like a mouth - and the hat began to sing:

"Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,  
But don't judge on what you see,  
I'll eat myself if you can find  
A smarter hat than me.  
You can keep your bowlers black,  
Your top hats sleek and tall,  
For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat  
And I can cap them all.  
There's nothing hidden in your head  
The Sorting Hat can't see,  
So try me on and I will tell you  
Where you ought to be.  
You might belong in Gryffindor,  
Where dwell the brave at heart,  
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry Set Gryffindors apart;  
You might belong in Hufflepuff,  
Where they are just and loyal,  
Those patient Hufflepuffis are true And unafraid of toil;  
Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,  
if you've a ready mind,  
Where those of wit and learning,  
Will always find their kind;  
Or perhaps in Slytherin  
You'll make your real friends,  
Those cunning folk use any means  
To achieve their ends.  
So put me on! Don't be afraid!  
And don't get in a flap!  
You're in safe hands (though I have none)  
For I'm a Thinking Cap!"

The whole hall burst into applause as the hat finished its song, even Seto, who had a shocked expression. It bowed to each of the four tables and then became quite still again.

"So we've just got to try on the hat!" Ron whispered to Mokuba. "I'll kill Fred, he was going on about wrestling a troll."

"Why do I feel you jinxed us?" said Mokuba smiling and Draco smirked. Yes, trying on the hat was a lot better than having to do a spell, but he did wish they could have tried it on without everyone watching.

Professor McGonagall now stepped forward holding a long roll of parchment. "When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she said. "Abbott, Hannah!"

A pink-faced girl with blonde pigtails stumbled out of line, put on the hat, which fell right down over her eyes, and sat down. A moments pause...

"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat.

The table on the right cheered and clapped as Hannah went to sit down at the Hufflepuff table. Mokuba saw the ghost of the Fat Friar waving merrily at her.

"Bones, Susan!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat again, and Susan scuttled off to sit next to Hannah.

"Boot, Terry!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

The table second from the left clapped this time; several Ravenclaws stood up to shake hands with Terry as he joined them.

"Brocklehurst, Mandy" went to Ravenclaw too, but "Brown, Lavender" became the first new Gryffindor, and the table on the far left exploded with cheers; Mokuba could see Ron's twin brothers catcalling.

"Bulstrode, Millicent"

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Finch-Fletchley, Justin!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

Sometimes, Mokuba noticed, the hat shouted out the house at once, but at others it took a little while to decide.

"Finnigan, Seamus," sat on the stool for almost a whole minute before the hat declared him a Gryffindor.

"Granger, Hermione!" Hermione almost ran to the stool and jammed the hat eagerly on her head.  
"GRYFFINDOR!" shouted the hat. Ron groaned.

The K's came and went and his name wasn't called. A horrible thought struck Mokuba, as horrible thoughts always do when you're very nervous. What if he wasn't chosen at all? What if he just sat there with the hat over his eyes for ages, until Professor McGonagall jerked it off his head and said there had obviously been a mistake and he'd better get back on the train? He shook his head. Calm down! He thought.

When Neville Longbottom, the boy who kept losing his toad, was called, he fell over on his way to the stool. The hat took a long time to decide with Neville. When it finally shouted, "GRYFFINDOR," Neville ran off still wearing it, and had to jog back amid gales of laughter to give it to "MacDougal, Morag."

Drova swaggered forward when his name was called, making Mokuba laugh silently, and got his wish at once: the hat had barely touched his head when it screamed, "SLYTHERIN!"

Draco waved at Mokuba and went to join his friends Crabbe and Goyle, looking pleased with himself.

There weren't many people left now. "Moon" "Nott" "Parkinson" then a pair of twin girls, "Patil" and "Patil" then "Perks, Sally-Anne" and then, at last - "Potter, Harry!"

Whispers suddenly broke out like little hissing fires all over the hall.

"Potter, did she say?"

"The Harry Potter?"

No one came forward. Mokuba refused. He glared at Dumbledore, who was looking pointedly at him. That old coot did this on purpose.

"Potter, Harry!" Professor McGonagall called again, looking at the line of First Years. Seto, Mokuba saw, looked livid.

Professor McGonagall looked confused when no one came up but continued on with the list anyway.

There were only a few people left to be sorted.

"Thomas, Dean," a Black boy even taller than Ron, went to the Gryffindor table.

"Turpin, Lisa," became a Ravenclaw and then it was Ron's turn. He was pale green by now and a second later the hat had shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"

Mokuba clapped loudly with the rest as Ron collapsed into the chair.

"Zabini, Blaise," was made a Slytherin and then Mokuba was the only one left standing.  
Professor McGonagall rolled up her scroll and walked over to him.  
"And what is your name?"

"Mokuba Kaiba." He answered.

She blinked. "Kaiba? As in-" She pointed to Seto at the teachers table, who was glaring darkly at Dumbledore. Mokuba nodded. "Oh, well sorry. Your name wasn't on the list."

Mokuba sighed and walked past Professor McGonagall to his brother. Seto looked livid but calmed down when Mokuba came over. "Should I tell?"

Seto looked at Dumbledore for a moment then nodded, slowly. "I don't think you would get sorted if you don't. Furui oban."

Mokuba sighed. He really didn't want to do this. He was hoping he could let the whole school think he was just Mokuba Kaiba and that Harry Potter didn't show up, or something. Oh well. He turned to Professor McGonagall and said, "I'm Mokuba Kaiba but you might know me better as Harry Potter."

More whispers broke out and Professor McGonagall looked shocked. "Why didn't you come up when I called your name?"

"I don't believe I heard my name ever called." Mokuba turned to Seto. "Did you big brother?" Seto shook his head, smirking. Mokuba turned toward the students. "What about you, Ron, Draco? Did you hear my name called?"

"Nope!" Ron called from the Gryffindor table, causing the red head with glasses to glare at him.

"No, I never heard 'Kaiba, Mokuba'." Draco called over from the Slytherin table, causing the other students there to stare at him in shock.

Mokuba turned back to the teachers. "So, what shall it be? Shall I get sorted under my name or shall me and my brother leave to go back to Japan?" Seto was shaking in laughter he was trying to hold in.

Dumbledore sighed then stepped in. "Mr. Kaiba, you may get sorted under your name."

Mokuba smiled and sat down on the stool. The last thing he saw before the hat dropped over his eyes was the hall full of people craning to get a good look at him. Next second he was looking at the black inside of the hat. He waited.

"Hmm," said a small voice in his ear. "Difficult. Very difficult. Plenty of courage, I see. Not a bad mind either. There's talent, A my goodness, yes - and a nice thirst to prove yourself, now that's interesting... Loyality to your brother and friends... So where shall I put you?"

Mokuba thought of where he wanted. Either Gryffindor or Slytherin, as he had friends there. 'Everyone turns against Slytherin,' He thought. 'So maybe not there...'

"Not Slytherin, eh?" said the small voice. "Are you sure? You could be great, you know, it's all here in your head, and Slytherin will help you on the way to greatness, no doubt about that - no? Well, if you're sure - better be GRYFFINDOR!"

Mokuba took off the hat and was about to go the the Gryffindor table when the hat called, "SLYTHERIN!"

What the-? He turned to the teachers, confused. Why had it called two houses? The teachers looked just as confused. Dumbledore looked mad. It was hidden carefully but Mokuba could see it. The old wizard turned toward him.

"Choose a house to sit with and go to the dormitory with them. We're talk about your double sorting tomorrow."

Mokuba nodded and looked between Gryffindor and Slytherin. Finally he turned toward Slytherin.

"Hey Draco!" He called. "Care if I sit with Ron?"

Draco looked thoughtful then called back. "No, it's fine. Just come see me tomorrow."

Mokuba smiled and nodded. He then ran to Ron and flopped in the seat beside him. He smiled at Ron, who smiled back. Mokuba looked down at his empty gold plate. He had only just realized how  
hungry he was. The pumpkin pasties seemed ages ago.

Dumbledore had gotten to his feet. He was suddenly beaming at the students, his arms opened wide, all anger gone from his features.

"Welcome," he said. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!" He sat back down. Seto looked at him like he was crazy.

Everybody clapped and cheered. Mokuba didn't know whether to laugh or not. "Is he - a bit mad?" he asked the red head with glasses, seeing what everybody else thought.

"Mad?" said the red head airily. "He's a genius! Best wizard in the world! But he is a bit mad, yes. Potatoes, Mokuba?"

Mokuba's mouth fell open. The dishes in front of him were now piled with food. He had never seen so many things he liked to eat on one table: roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops and lamb chops, sausages, bacon and steak, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, fries, Yorkshire pudding,  
peas, carrots, gravy, ketchup, and even some japanese dishes.

Mokuba piled his plate with a bit of everything except the peppermints and began to eat. It was all delicious.

"That does look good," said the ghost in the ruff sadly, watching Mokuba cut up his steak.

"Can't you-?"

"I haven't eaten for nearly four hundred years," said the ghost. "I don't need to, of course, but one does miss it. I don't think I've in troduced myself? Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington at your service. Resident ghost of Gryffindor Tower."

"I know who you are!" said Ron suddenly. "My brothers told me about you - you're Nearly Headless Nick!"

"I would prefer you to call me Sir Nicholas de Mimsy -" the ghost began stiffly, but sandy-haired Mokuba interrupted.

"Nearly Headless? How can you be nearly headless?" Sir Nicholas looked extremely miffed, as if their little chat wasn't going at all the way he wanted.

"Like this," he said irritably. He seized his left ear and pulled. His whole head swung off his neck and fell onto his shoulder as if it was on a hinge. Someone had obviously tried to behead him, but not done it properly. Looking pleased at the stunned looks on their faces, Nearly Headless Nick flipped his head back onto his neck, coughed, and said, "So - new Gryffindors! I hope you're going to help us win the house championship this year? Gryffindors have never gone so long without  
winning. Slytherins have got the cup six years in a row! The Bloody Baron's becoming almost unbearable - he's the Slytherin ghost."

Mokuba looked over at the Slytherin table and saw a horrible ghost sitting there, with blank staring eyes, a gaunt face, and robes stained with silver blood. He looked like he belonged in Bakura's deck. He was right next to Draco who, Mokuba was amused to see, didn't look too pleased with the seating arrangements.

"How did he get covered in blood?" asked Mokuba with great interest.

"I've never asked," said Nearly Headless Nick delicately. When everyone had eaten as much as they could, the remains of the food faded from the plates, leaving them sparkling clean as before. A moment later the desserts appeared. Blocks of ice cream in every flavor you could think of, apple pies, treacle tarts, chocolate eclairs and jam doughnuts, trifle, strawberries, Jell-O, rice pudding...

As Mokuba helped himself to a chocolate parfait, the talk turned to their families.

"I'm half-and-half," said Seamus. "Me dad's a Muggle. Mom didn't tell him she was a witch 'til after they were married. Bit of a nasty shock for him."

The others laughed.

"What about you, Neville?" said Ron.

"Well, my gran brought me up and she's a witch," said Neville, "but the family thought I was all- Muggle for ages. My Great Uncle Algie kept trying to catch me off my guard and force some magic out of me - he pushed me off the end of Blackpool pier once, I nearly drowned - but nothing happened until I was eight. Great Uncle Algie came round for dinner, and he was hanging me out of an upstairs window by the ankles when my Great Auntie Enid offered him a meringue and he accidentally let go. But I bounced - all the way down the garden and into the road. They  
were all really pleased, Gran was crying, she was so happy. And you should have seen their faces when I got in here - they thought I might not be magic enough to come, you see. Great Uncle Algie was so pleased he bought me my toad." Mokuba didn't think that was very good. Who would do that to a child?

Mokuba, who was starting to feel warm and sleepy, looked up at the High Table again. Hagrid was drinking deeply from his goblet. Professor McGonagall was talking to Professor Dumbledore. Professor Quirrell, in his absurd turban, was talking to a teacher with greasy  
black hair, a hooked nose, and sallow skin. It happened very suddenly. The hook-nosed teacher looked past Quirrell's turban straight into Mokuba eyes - and he could just see the hate rolling off the teacher.

"What the-?"

"What is it?" asked the red head with glasses.

"N-nothing."

The feeling had gone as quickly as it had come. Harder to shake off was the feeling Mokuba had gotten from the teacher's look - a feeling that he didn't like Mokuba at all. "Who's that teacher talking to Professor Quirrell?" he asked the red head.

"Oh, you know Quirrell already, do you? No wonder he's looking so nervous, that's Professor Snape. He teaches Potions, but he doesn't want to - everyone knows he's after Quirrell's job. Knows an awful lot about the Dark Arts, Snape."

Mokuba watched Snape for a while, but Snape didn't look at him again. At last, the desserts too disappeared, and Professor Dumbledore got to his feet again. The hall fell silent.

"Ahern - just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices to give you. First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well."

Dumbledore's annoying twinkling eyes flashed in the direction of the Weasley twins. "I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors. trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch. Also we have a new teacher. He will be teaching Muggle Studies." He swept his arm to Seto and Seto stood up. "Professor Seto Kaiba." Seto just looked bored. "And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death."

Mokuba laughed, but he was one of the few who did.

"He's not serious?" he muttered to the red head.

"Must be," he said, frowning at Dumbledore. "It's odd, because he usually gives us a reason why we're not allowed to go somewhere - the forest's full of dangerous beasts, everyone knows that. I do think he might have told us prefects, at least."

"And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!" cried Dumbledore. Mokuba noticed that the other teachers' smiles had become rather fixed. Seto looked annoyed. Dumbledore gave his wand a little flick, as if he was trying to get a fly off the end, and a long golden ribbon flew out of it, which rose high above the tables and twisted itself, snakelike, into words. "Everyone pick their favorite tune," said Dumbledore, "and off we go!"

And the school bellowed:

"Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,  
Teach us something please,  
Whether we be old and bald  
Or young with scabby knees,  
Our heads could do with filling  
With some interesting stuff,  
For now they're bare and full of air,  
Dead flies and bits of fluff,  
So teach us things worth knowing,  
Bring back what we've forgot,  
just do your best, we'll do the rest,  
And learn until our brains all rot."

Everybody finished the song at different times. At last, only the Weasley twins were left singing along to a very slow funeral march. Mokuba, just too be difficult, sand in Japanese.

Dumbledore conducted their last few lines with his wand and when they had finished, he was one of those who clapped loudest.

"Ah, music," he said, wiping his eyes. "A magic beyond all we do here! And now, bedtime. Off you trot!"

The Gryffindor first years followed the red head, who Mokuba finally found out he was Ron's brother Percy, through the chattering crowds, out of the Great Hall, and up the marble staircase. Mokuba's legs were like lead again, but only because he was so tired and full of food. He was too sleepy even to be surprised that the people in the portraits along the corridors whispered and pointed as they passed, or that twice Percy led them through doorways hidden behind sliding panels and hanging tapestries. They climbed more staircases, yawning and dragging their feet, and Mokuba was just wondering how much farther they had to go when they came to a sudden halt.

A bundle of walking sticks was floating in midair ahead of them, and as Percy took a step toward them they started throwing themselves at him.

"Peeves," Percy whispered to the first years. "A poltergeist." He raised his voice, "Peeves - show yourself"

A loud, rude sound, like the air being let out of a balloon, answered.

"Do you want me to go to the Bloody Baron?"

There was a pop, and a little man with wicked, dark eyes and a wide mouth appeared, floating cross- legged in the air, clutching the walking sticks. "Oooooooh!" he said, with an evil cackle. "Ickle Firsties! What fun!" He swooped suddenly at them. They all ducked.

"Go away, Peeves, or the Baron'll hear about this, I mean it!" barked Percy.

Peeves stuck out his tongue and vanished, dropping the walking sticks on Neville's head. They heard him zooming away, rattling coats of armor as he passed.

"You want to watch out for Peeves," said Percy, as they set off again. "The Bloody Baron's the only one who can control him, he won't even listen to us prefects. Here we are."

At the very end of the corridor hung a portrait of a very fat woman in a pink silk dress.

"Password?" she said.

"Caput Draconis," said Percy, and the portrait swung forward to reveal a round hole in the wall. They all scrambled through it - Neville needed a leg up - and found themselves in the Gryffindor common room, a cozy, round room full of squashy armchairs. Percy directed the girls through one door to their dormitory and the boys through another. At the top of a spiral staircase - they were obviously in one of the towers - they found their beds at last: five four-posters hung with deep red, velvet curtains. Their trunks had already been brought up. Too tired to talk much, they pulled on their pajamas and fell into bed.

"Great food, isn't it?" Ron muttered to Mokuba through the hangings. "Get off, Scabbers! He's chewing my sheets."

Mokuba was going to ask Ron if he'd was still his friend, but he fell asleep almost at once.

Maybe tomorrow.


	5. Chapter 5

"There, look."

"Where?"

"Next to the tall kid with the red hair."

"Wearing the long hair?"

"Did you see his face?"

"Did you see his scar?"

Whispers followed Mokuba from the moment he left his dormitory the next day. People lining up outside classrooms stood on tiptoe to get a look at him, or doubled back to pass him in the corridors again, staring. Mokuba wished they wouldn't, because he was trying to concentrate on finding his way to classes. He had already been to see Dumbledore. They decided he would take some classes with Syltherins and some Gryffendors. He would sleep in his brother's room.

The Gryffendors had to study the night skies through their telescopes every Wednesday at midnight and learn the names of different stars and the movements of the planets. Three times a week the Slytherns went out to the greenhouses behind the castle to study Herbology, with a dumpy little witch called Professor Sprout, where they learned how to take care of all the strange plants and fungi, and found out what they were used for.

Easily the most boring class was History of Magic, which was the only one taught by a ghost, and was between both houses. Professor Binns had been very old indeed when he had fallen asleep in front of the staff room fire and got up next morning to teach, leaving his body behind him. Binns droned on and on while they scribbled down names and dates, and got Emetic the Evil and Uric the Oddball mixed up.

Professor Flitwick, the Charms teacher, was a tiny little wizard who had to stand on a pile of books to see over his desk. This class was also both houses.

Professor McGonagall was again different. Mokuba had been quite right to think she wasn't a teacher to cross. Strict and clever, she gave them a talking-to the moment they sat down in her first class.

"Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts," she said. "Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned."

Then she changed her desk into a pig and back again. They were all very impressed and couldn't wait to get started, but soon realized they weren't going to be changing the furniture into animals for a long time.

After taking a lot of complicated notes, they were each given a match and started trying to turn it into a needle. By the end of the lesson, only Hermione Granger had made any difference to her match; Professor McGonagall showed the class how it had gone all silver and pointy and gave Hermione a rare smile. Mokuba had only managed to get it to change color.

The class everyone had really been looking forward to was Defense Against the Dark Arts, but Quirrell's lessons turned out to be a bit of a joke. His classroom smelled strongly of garlic, which everyone said was to ward off a vampire he'd met in Romania and was afraid would be coming back to get him one of these days. His turban, he told them, had been given to him by an African prince as a thank-you for getting rid of a troublesome zombie, but they weren't sure they believed this story.  
For one thing, when Seamus Finnigan asked eagerly to hear how Quirrell had fought off the zombie, Quirrell went pink and started talking about the weather; for another, they had noticed that a funny smell hung around the turban, and the Weasley twins insisted that it was stuffed full of garlic as well, so that Quirrell was protected wherever he went.

Mokuba was very relieved to find out that he wasn't miles behind everyone else. Lots of people had come from Muggle families and, like him, hadn't had any idea that they were witches and wizards. There was so much to learn that even people like Ron and Draco didn't have much of a head start.

Friday was an important day for Mokuba and Ron. They finally managed to find their way down to the Great Hall for breakfast without getting lost once.

"What have we got today?" Mokuba asked Ron as he poured sugar on his porridge.

"Double Potions with the Slytherins," said Ron. "Snape's Head of Slytherin House. They say he always favors them - we'll be able to see if it's true."

"I hope Draco will sit by us." Said Mokuba, thinking about the last week where Draco say with them only half the time.

Just then, the mail arrived. Mokuba had gotten used to this by now, but it had given him a bit of a shock on the first morning, when about a hundred owls had suddenly streamed into the Great Hall during breakfast, circling the tables until they saw their owners, and dropping letters and packages onto their laps and he could see it shocked Seto too.

An owl has never gave him anything but today, one fluttered down between the marmalade and the sugar bowl and dropped a note onto Mokuba's plate. Mokuba tore it open at once. It said, in a very untidy scrawl:

Dear Mokuba,  
I know you get Friday afternoons off, so would you like to come and have a cup of tea with me around three?  
I want to hear all about your first week. Send us an answer back with this owl.  
Hagrid

Mokuba borrowed Ron's quill, scribbled "Yes, please, see you later" on the back of the note, and sent the owl off again. It was lucky that Mokuba had tea with Hagrid to look forward to, because  
the Potions lesson turned out to be the worst thing that had happened to him so far.

At the start-of-term banquet, Mokuba had gotten the idea that Professor Snape disliked him. By the end of the first Potions lesson, he knew he'd been wrong. Snape didn't dislike Mokuba.

He hated him.

Potions lessons took place down in one of the dungeons. It was colder here than up in the main castle, and would have been quite creepy enough without the pickled animals floating in glass jars all around the walls.

Snape, like Flitwick, started the class by taking the roll call, and like Flitwick, he paused at Mokuba's name.

"Ah, Yes," he said softly, "Harry Potter. Our new - celebrity."

Mokuba sighed and called out. "I'm sorry sir, but can you please call me by my name? Mokuba Kaiba."

Snape ignored him and finished calling the names and looked up at the class. His eyes were black like Hagrid's, but they had none of Hagrid's warmth. They were cold and empty and made you think of dark tunnels.

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potionmaking," he began. Like Professor McGonagall, Snape had the gift of keeping a class silent without effort. "As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death - if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."

More silence followed this little speech. Mokuba and Ron exchanged looks with raised eyebrows and Draco gave them a smile. He apperently liked Snape. Hermione Granger was on the edge of her seat and looked desperate to start proving that she wasn't a dunderhead.

"Potter!" said Snape suddenly. "What would I get if I added powdered  
root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

Powdered root of what to an infusion of what? Mokuba glanced at Ron, who looked as stumped as he was; Hermione's hand had shot into the air. "I don't know, sir," said Mokuba. "And please, my name is Mokuba Kaiba."

Snape's lips curled into a sneer. "Tut, tut - fame clearly isn't everything." He ignored Hermione's hand. "Let's try again. Potter, where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"

Hermione stretched her hand as high into the air as it would go without her leaving her seat, but Mokuba didn't have the faintest idea what a bezoar was. "I don't know, sir."

"Thought you wouldn't open a book before coming, eh, Potter?" Mokuba forced himself to keep looking straight into those cold eyes. He had looked through his books but did Snape expect him to remember everything in One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi?

Snape was still ignoring Hermione's quivering hand. "What is the difference, Potter, between monkshood and wolfsbane?"

At this, Hermione stood up, her hand stretching toward the dungeon ceiling. But this one, Mokuba knew. One of those random facts that stayed with you for no reason. "They're the same sir."

Snape didn't like that he knew. He glared and snapped, "For your information, Potter, asphodel and wormwood make a sleeping potion so powerful it is known as the Draught of Living Death. A bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat and it will save you from most poisons. As for monkshood and wolfsbane, they are the same plant, which also goes by the name of aconite. Well? Why aren't you all copying that down?"

There was a sudden rummaging for quills and parchment.

Things didn't improve for the Gryffindors as the Potions lesson continued. Snape put them all into pairs and set them to mixing up a simple potion to cure boils. He swept around in his long black cloak, watching them weigh dried nettles and crush snake fangs, criticizing almost everyone except Draco, whom he seemed to like. He was just telling everyone to look at the perfect way Draco had stewed his horned slugs when clouds of acid green smoke and a loud hissing filled the dungeon. Neville had somehow managed to melt Seamus's cauldron into a twisted blob, and their potion was seeping across the stone floor, burning holes in people's shoes. Within seconds, the whole class was standing on their stools while Neville, who had been drenched in the potion when the cauldron collapsed, moaned in pain as angry red boils sprang up all over his arms and legs. Mokuba was glad that he and Ron sat closer to Draco up front then to Neville in the back.

"Idiot boy!" snarled Snape, clearing the spilled potion away with one wave of his wand. "I suppose you added the porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the fire?"

Neville whimpered as boils started to pop up all over his nose.

"Take him up to the hospital wing," Snape spat at Seamus.

As they climbed the steps out of the dungeon an hour later, Mokuba's mind was racing and his spirits were low. He'd made an enemy in his very first week - why did Snape hate him so much?

"Cheer up," said Ron, "Snape's always taking points off Fred and George. Can I come and meet Hagrid with you?"

Mokuba nodded and then caught sight of Draco. "Hey Draco!" The blond came over. "Do you want to come to Hagrids with us today?"

Draco didn't look to thrilled. "I don't know..."

"Aw, come on! He's really nice! Your Dad has said differently, right?" Mokuba asked and Drsco nodded. "Well, listen to me. Come on!"

Draco nodded hesitantly.

At five to three they left the castle and made their way across the grounds. Hagrid lived in a small wooden house on the edge of the forbidden forest. A crossbow and a pair of galoshes were outside the front door that made Draco cringe.

When Mokuba knocked they heard a frantic scrabbling from inside and several booming barks. Then Hagrid's voice rang out, saying,

"Back, Fang - back."

Hagrid's big, hairy face appeared in the crack as he pulled the door open. "Hang on," he said. "Back, Fang." He let them in, struggling to keep a hold on the collar of an enormous black boarhound.

There was only one room inside. Hams and pheasants were hanging from the ceiling, a copper kettle was boiling on the open fire, and in the corner stood a massive bed with a patchwork quilt over it. "Make yerselves at home," said Hagrid, letting go of Fang, who bounded straight at Ron and started licking his ears. Like Hagrid, Fang was clearly not as fierce as he looked.

"This is Ron and Draco," Mokuba told Hagrid, who was pouring boiling water into a large teapot and putting rock cakes onto a plate.

"Another Weasley, eh?" said Hagrid, glancing at Ron's freckles. "I spent half me life chasin' yer twin brothers away from the forest." He turned to Draco. "And you're a Malfoy?" Draco nodded. Hagrid's smile became a bit forced. "Well, any friend of Mokuba's a friend of mine."

The rock cakes were shapeless lumps with raisins that almost broke their teeth, but Mokuba, Draco, and Ron pretended to be enjoying them as they told Hagrid all about their first -lessons. Fang rested his head on Draco's knee and drooled all over his robes, much to his dismay.

They were delighted to hear Hagrid call Fitch "that old git."

"An' as fer that cat, Mrs. Norris, I'd like ter introduce her to Fang sometime. D'yeh know, every time I go up ter the school, she follows me everywhere? Can't get rid of her - Fitch puts her up to it."

Mokuba told Hagrid about Snape's lesson. Hagrid, like Ron, told Harry not to worry about it, that Snape liked hardly any of the students.

"But he seemed to really hate me."

"Rubbish!" said Hagrid. "Why should he?"

Yet Mokuba couldn't help thinking that Hagrid didn't quite meet his eyes when he said that.  
"Did you know you're named after the word dragon?" Hagrid asked Draco. "Dragons-those are magnificent creatures." Draco beamed and the two got into a ice breaking conversation about dragons with Ron joining in every so often, for one of his brothers works at a reserve.

Mokuba wondered if Hagrid had changed the subject on purpose. While Ron told Hagrid and Draco all about Charlie's work with dragons, Mokuba picked up a piece of paper that was lying on the table under the tea cozy. It was a cutting from the Daily Prophet and it told about the break in at the bank. One thing caught his eye-it happened the day they went to Diagon Alley.

Mokuba remembered Ron telling him on the train that someone had tried to rob Gringotts, but Ron hadn't mentioned the date.

"Hagrid!" said Mokuba, "that Gringotts break-in happened on the day we went to Diagon Alley! It might've been happening while we were there!"

There was no doubt about it, Hagrid definitely didn't meet Mokuba's eyes this time. Mokuba narrowed his eyes. Years of dealing with business had taught him a few things. He grunted and offered him another rock cake. Mokuba read the story again, this time with Draco and Ron reading over his shoulder. The vault that was searched had in fact been emptied earlier that same day. Hagrid had to go get something that day when he sent him and Seto off to the robe shop. Had that been what the thieves were looking for?

As the boys walked back to the castle for dinner, their pockets weighed down with rock cakes they'd been too polite to refuse, Mokuba thought that none of the lessons he'd had so far had given him as much to think about as tea with Hagrid. Had Hagrid collected that package just in time? Where was it now? And did Hagrid know something about Snape that he didn't want to tell Mokuba?

And should Mokuba even get involved?


	6. Chapter 6

"Half-past eleven," Ron muttered. They were sitting at a table in the corner of the Commen Room.

"I've better go." Mokuba realized with a start on how late it was. His brother was proably worried at where he was. He got up and grabbed his stuff.

"I'll go with you," Ron said as he stood up also. Mokuba decided not argue. It was too late for that.

A few embers were still glowing in the fireplace, turning all the armchairs into hunched black shadows. They had almost reached the portrait hole when a voice spoke from the chair nearest them, "I can't believe you're going to do this, Mokuba." A lamp flickered on. It was Hermione Granger, wearing a pink bathrobe and a frown.

"You!" said Ron furiously. "Go back to bed!"

"You should stay here," Hermione snapped, "Its too late. You'll get got and get points taken away."

Mokuba couldn't believe anyone could be so interfering. He was just trying to get to his rom.

"Come on," he said to Ron. He pushed open the portrait of the Fat Lady and climbed through the hole. Hermione wasn't going to give up that easily. She followed Ron through the portrait hole, hissing at them like an angry goose.

"Don't you care about Gryffindor, do you only care about yourselves, I don't want Slytherin to win the house cup, and you'll lose all the points I got from Professor McGonagall for knowing about Switching Spells."

"Go away."

"All right, but I warned you, you just remember what I said when you're on the train home tomorrow, you're so -" But what they were, they didn't find out. Hermione had turned to the portrait of the Fat Lady to get back inside and found herself facing an empty painting. The Fat Lady had gone on a  
nighttime visit and Hermione was locked out of Gryffindor tower.

"Now what am I going to do?" she asked shrilly.

"That's your problem," said Ron. "We've got to go, we before we get caught. I'll just stay in Mokuba's room tonight." They hadn't even reached the end of the corridor when Hermione caught up with them.

"I'm coming with you," she said.

"You are not."

"D'you think I'm going to stand out here and wait for Filch to catch me? If he finds all three of us I'll tell him the truth, that I was trying to stop you, and you can back me up."

"Stop us from what?! We're going to Mokuba's -" said Ron loudly.

"Shut up, both of you!" said Mokuba sharply. I heard something."

It was a sort of snuffling.

"Mrs. Norris?" breathed Ron, squinting through the dark. It wasn't Mrs. Norris. It was Neville. He was curled up on the floor, fast asleep, but jerked suddenly awake as they crept nearer.

"Thank goodness you found me! I've been out here for hours, I couldn't remember the new password to get in to bed."

"Keep your voice down, Neville. The password's 'Pig snout' but it won't help you now, the Fat Lady's gone off somewhere."

"How's your arm?" said Mokuba, refering to the flying lesson they had eariler. It went pretty good except at the beginning when Neville fell of his broom.

"Fine," said Neville, showing them. "Madam Pomfrey mended it in about a minute."

"Good - well, look, Neville, we've got to be somewhere, we'll see you later -"

"Don't leave me!" said Neville, scrambling to his feet, "I don't want to stay here alone, the Bloody Baron's been past twice already."

Ron looked at his watch and then glared furiously at Hermione and Neville.

"If either of you get us caught, I'll never rest until I've learned that Curse of the Bogies Quirrell told us about, and used it on you." Hermione opened her mouth, perhaps to tell Ron exactly how to use the Curse of the Bogies, but Mokuba hissed at her to be quiet and beckoned them all forward. They flitted along corridors striped with bars of moonlight from the high windows. At every turn Mokuba expected to run into Filch or Mrs. Norris, but they were lucky. They sped up a staircase and another one but it seems they took a wrong turn.

"This is the third floor." Hermione said, huffy. Mokuba blushed and snapped at her,

"I'm sorry I couldn't remember how to get to my room in the dark in this maze of a castle!"

They were in the trophy room, to regain their bearings and keep out of sight of Filch. The crystal trophy cases glimmered where the moonlight caught them. Cups, shields, plates, and statues winked silver and gold in the darkness. They edged along the walls, keeping their eyes on the doors at either end of the room. Mokuba looked around to find his way back to his room.

Then a noise in the next room made them jump.

"Sniff around, my sweet, they might be lurking in a corner." It was Filch speaking to Mrs. Norris. Horror-struck, Mokuba waved madly at the other three to follow him as quickly as possible; they scurried silently toward the door, away from Filch's voice. Neville's robes had barely whipped round the corner when they heard Filch enter the trophy room. "They're in here somewhere," they heard him mutter, "probably hiding."

"This way!" Mokuba mouthed to the others and, petrified, they began to creep down a long gallery full of suits of armor. They could hear Filch getting nearer. Neville suddenly let out a frightened squeak and broke into a run -he tripped, grabbed Ron around the waist, and the pair of them toppled right into a suit of armor. The clanging and crashing were enough to wake the whole castle.

"RUN!" Mokuba yelled, and the four of them sprinted down the gallery, not looking back to see whether Filch was following - they swung around the doorpost and galloped down one corridor then another, Mokuba in the lead, without any idea where they were or where they were going - they ripped through a tapestry and found themselves in a hidden passageway, hurtled along it and came out near their Charms classroom, which they knew was miles from the trophy room.

"I think we've lost him," Mokuba panted, leaning against the cold wall and wiping his forehead. Neville was bent double, wheezing and spluttering.

"I - told -you," Hermione gasped, clutching at the stitch in her chest, "I - told - you."

"We've got to get back to Gryffindor tower," said Ron, "quickly as possible. You can tell your brother tomorrow that you couldn't leave so late."

"Let's go."

It wasn't going to be that simple. They hadn't gone more than a dozen paces when a doorknob rattled and something came shooting out of a classroom in front of them. It was Peeves. He caught sight of them and gave a squeal of delight. "Shut up, Peeves - please - you'll get us thrown out." Peeves cackled.

"Wandering around at midnight, Ickle Firsties? Tut, tut, tut. Naughty, naughty, you'll get caughty."

"Not if you don't give us away, Peeves, please."

"Should tell Filch, I should," said Peeves in a saintly voice, but his eyes glittered wickedly. "It's for your own good, you know."

"Get out of the way," snapped Ron, taking a swipe at Peeves. Mokuba felt this was a big mistake.

"STUDENTS OUT OF BED!" Peeves bellowed, "STUDENTS OUT OF BED DOWN THE CHARMS CORRIDOR"

Ducking under Peeves, they ran for their lives, right to the end of the corridor where they slammed into a door - and it was locked. "This is it!" Ron moaned, as they pushed helplessly at the door, "We're done for! This is the end!" They could hear footsteps, Filch running as fast as he could toward Peeves's shouts.

"Oh, move over," Hermione snarled. She grabbed Mokuba's wand from his pocket, tapped the lock, and whispered, 'Alohomora!" The lock clicked and the door swung open - they piled through it, shut it quickly, and pressed their ears against it, listening.

"Which way did they go, Peeves?" Filch was saying. "Quick, tell me."

"Say 'please."'

"Don't mess with me, Peeves, now where did they go?"

"Shan't say nothing if you don't say please," said Peeves in his annoying singsong voice.

"He won't tell..." Mokuba muttered, causing the others to look at him funny.

"All right -please."

"NOTHING! Ha haaa! Told you I wouldn't say nothing if you didn't say please! Ha ha! Haaaaaa!" And they heard the sound of Peeves whooshing away and Filch cursing in rage.

"He thinks this door is locked," Mokuba whispered. "I think we'll be okay - get off, Neville!" For Neville had been tugging on the sleeve of Mokuba's robe for the last minute. "What?" Mokuba turned around - and saw, quite clearly, what. For a moment, he was sure he'd walked into a nightmare - this was too much, on top of everything that had happened so far. They weren't in a room, as he had supposed. They were in a corridor. The forbidden corridor on the third floor. And now they knew why it was forbidden.

They were looking straight into the eyes of a monstrous dog, a dog that filled the whole space between ceiling and floor. It had three heads. Three pairs of rolling, mad eyes; three noses, twitching and quivering in their direction; three drooling mouths, saliva hanging in slippery ropes from yellowish fangs. It was standing quite still, all six eyes staring at them, and Mokuba knew that the only reason they weren't already dead was that their sudden appearance had taken it by surprise, but it was quickly getting over that, there was no mistaking what those thunderous growls meant. Mokuba groped for the doorknob - between Filch and death, he'd take Filch.

They fell backward - Mokuba slammed the door shut, and they ran, they almost flew, back down the corridor. Filch must have hurried off to look for them somewhere else, because they didn't see him anywhere, but they hardly cared - all they wanted to do was put as much space as possible between them and that monster. They didn't stop running until they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady on the seventh floor.

"Where on earth have you all been?" she asked, looking at their bathrobes hanging off their shoulders and their flushed, sweaty faces.

"Never mind that - pig snout, pig snout," panted Mokuba, and the portrait swung forward. They scrambled into the common room and collapsed, trembling, into armchairs. It was a while before any of them said anything. Neville, indeed, looked as if he'd never speak again.

"What do they think they're doing, keeping a thing like that locked up in a school?" said Ron finally. "If any dog needs exercise, that one does."

Hermione had got both her breath and her bad temper back again. "You don't use your eyes, any of you, do you?" she snapped. "Didn't you see what it was standing on.

"The floor?" Mokuba suggested. "I wasn't looking at its feet, I was too busy with its heads."

"No, not the floor. It was standing on a trapdoor. It's obviously guarding something." She stood up, glaring at them. "I hope you're pleased with yourselves. We could all have been killed - or worse, expelled. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to bed."

Mokuba and Ron stared after her, their mouths open.

"That girl has to get her priorites straight." Mokuba said.

"No, we don't mind," he said. "You'd think we dragged her along, wouldn't you."

But Hermione had given Mokuba something else to think about as he climbed back into bed. The dog was guarding something... What had Hagrid said? Gringotts was the safest place in the world for something you wanted to hide - except perhaps Hogwarts. It looked as though Mokuba had found out where the package from vault seven hundred and thirteen was.

...  
...

Seto was mad Mokuba hadn't come but agreed that it was best he stay in the tower after cerview, so he wouldn't get in trouble. But then he narrowed his eyes and bent down to look Mokuba in the then sighed.

"Don't stay up so late." He said as he walked back up to the teachers table.

Mokuba and Ron thought that meeting the three-headed dog had been an excellent adventure, and they were quite keen to have another one. In the meantime, Mokuba filled Ron in about the package that seemed to have been moved from Gringotts to Hogwarts, and Draco in on everything, and they spent a lot of time wondering what could possibly need such heavy protection. "It's either really valuable or really dangerous," said Ron.

"Or both," said Mokuba. Draco scoffed.

"What could be so priceless that Dumbledore has to have a beast like that in a school full of children?"

But as all they knew for sure about the mysterious object was that it was small, they didn't have much chance of guessing what it was without further clues. Neither Neville nor Hermione showed the slightest interest in what lay underneath the dog and the trapdoor. All Neville cared about was never going near the dog again. Hermione was now refusing to speak to Mokuba and Ron, but she was such a bossy know-it-all that they saw this as an added bonus.

On Halloween morning they woke to the delicious smell of baking pumpkin wafting through the corridors. Even better, Professor Flitwick announced in Charms that he thought they were ready to start making objects fly, something they had all been dying to try since they'd seen him make Neville's toad zoom around the classroom. Professor Flitwick put the class into pairs to practice. Mokuba's partner was Draco. Ron, however, was to be working with Hermione Granger. It was hard to tell whether Ron or Hermione was angrier about this.

"Now, don't forget that nice wrist movement we've been practicing!" squeaked Professor Flitwick, perched on top of his pile of books as usual. "Swish and flick, remember, swish and flick. And saying the magic words properly is very important, too - never forget Wizard Baruffio, who said 's' instead of 'f' and found himself on the floor with a buffalo on his chest."

"Lies..." He heard Draco mutter.

It was very difficult. Mokuba and Draco swished and flicked, but the feather they were supposed to be sending skyward just lay on the desktop. Ron, at the next table, wasn't having much more luck.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" he shouted, waving his long arms like a windmill. Draco sniffled a laugh. He didn't want Ron mad at him. Their friendship was still rocky.

"You're saying it wrong," Mokuba heard Hermione snap. "It's Wing-gar-dium Levi-o-sa, make the 'gar' nice and long."

"You do it, then, if you're so clever," Ron snarled. Mokuba looked at Draco and both shook their heads. Never challenge someone like Hermione. Mokuba had seen what happens because of his brother. Hermione rolled up the sleeves of her gown, flicked her wand, and said,

"Wingardium Leviosa!"

Their feather rose off the desk and hovered about four feet above their heads.

"Oh, well done!" cried Professor Flitwick, clapping. "Everyone see here, Miss Granger's done it!"

Ron was in a very bad mood by the end of the class. "It's no wonder no one can stand her," he said to both other boys as they pushed their way into the crowded corridor, "she's a nightmare, honestly. Someone knocked into Mokuba as they hurried past him. It was Hermione. Mokuba caught a glimpse of her face - and was startled to see that she was in tears.

"I think she heard you." Draco said flatly.

"So?" said Ron, but he looked a bit uncomfortable. "She must've noticed she's got no friends."

"You still shouldn't of said it!" Mokuba yelled.

Hermione didn't turn up for the next class and wasn't seen all afternoon. On their way down to the Great Hall for the Halloween feast, the boys overheard Parvati Patil telling her friend Lavender that Hermione was crying in the girls' bathroom and wanted to be left alone. Ron looked still more awkward at this, but a moment later they had entered the Great Hall, where the Halloween decorations put Hermione out of their minds. A thousand live bats fluttered from the walls and ceiling while a thousand more swooped over the tables in low black clouds, making the candles in the pumpkins stutter. The feast appeared suddenly on the golden plates, as it had at the start-of-term banquet, and Draco, being nice, sat with Mokuba and Ron at their table, though only if they promise to sit with him during the weekend. Mokuba was just helping himself to a baked potato when Professor Quirrell came sprinting into the hall, his turban askew and terror on his face.

Everyone stared as he reached Professor Dumbledore's chair, slumped against the table, and gasped, "Troll - in the dungeons - thought you ought to know." He then sank to the floor in a dead faint. There was an uproar. It took several purple firecrackers exploding from the end of Professor Dumbledore's wand to bring silence.

"Prefects," he rumbled, "lead your Houses back to the dormitories immediately!"

"My commen rooms are in the dungens..." Draco said, though it was not loud enough for anyone besides Mokuba and Ron to hear him. They shrugged and Draco decided to come with them.

Percy was in his element.

"Follow me! Stick together, first years! No need to fear the troll if you follow my orders!" Mokuba ignored Draco's comment, "As if any trolls would fear him..." and keep looking ahead. "Stay close behind me, now. Make way, first years coming through! Excuse me, I'm a prefect!"

"How could a troll get in?" Mokuba asked as they climbed the stairs.

"Don't ask me, they're supposed to be really stupid," said Draco.

"Maybe Peeves let it in for a Halloween joke." Ron added.

They passed different groups of people hurrying in different directions. As they jostled their way through a crowd of confused Hufflepuffs, Mokuba suddenly grabbed Draco's and Ron's arms. "I've just thought - Hermione."

"What about her?"

"She doesn't know about the troll." Draco realized.

Ron bit his lip. "Oh, all right," he snapped. "But Percy'd better not see us." Ducking down, they joined the Hufflepuffs going the other way, slipped down a deserted side corridor, and hurried off toward the girls' bathroom. They had just turned the corner when they heard quick footsteps behind them. "Percy!" hissed Ron, pulling the boys behind a large stone griffin. Peering around it, however, they saw not Percy but Snape. He crossed the corridor and disappeared from view.

"What's he doing?" Mokuba whispered. "Why isn't he down in the dungeons with the rest of the teachers?"

"Searching for me, maybe." Draco shrugged.

Quietly as possible, they crept along the next corridor after Snape's fading footsteps.

"He's heading for the third floor," Mokuba said, but Ron held up his hand.

"Can you smell something?"

Mokuba sniffed and a foul stench reached his nostrils, a mixture of old socks and the kind of public toilet no one seems to clean. And then they heard it - a low grunting, and the shuffling footfalls of gigantic feet. Ron pointed - at the end of a passage to the left, something huge was moving toward them. They shrank into the shadows and watched as it emerged into a patch of moonlight. It was a horrible sight. Twelve feet tall, its skin was a dull, granite gray, its great lumpy body like a boulder with its small bald head perched on top like a coconut. It had short legs thick as tree trunks with flat, horny feet. The smell coming from it was incredible. It was holding a huge wooden club, which dragged along the floor because its arms were so long. The troll stopped next to a doorway  
and peered inside. It waggled its long ears, making up its tiny mind, then slouched slowly into the room.

"The keys in the lock," Draco muttered. "We could lock it in."

"Good idea," said Ron nervously.

They edged toward the open door, mouths dry, praying the troll wasn't about to come out of it. With one great leap, Mokuba managed to grab the key, slam the door, and lock it. "Yes!" They said together. Flushed with their victory, they started to run back up the passage, but as they reached the corner they heard something that made their hearts stop - a high, petrified scream - and it was coming from the room they'd just locked.

"Oh, no," said Ron, pale as the Bloody Baron.

"It's the girls' bathroom!" Draco gasped.

"Hermione!" Mokuba said.

It was the last thing they wanted to do, but what choice did they have? Wheeling around, they sprinted back to the door and turned the key, fumbling in their panic. Mokuba pulled the door open and they ran inside. Hermione Granger was shrinking against the wall opposite, looking as if she was about to faint. The troll was advancing on her, knocking the sinks off the walls as it went. "Confuse it!" Mokuba said desperately to Ron, and, seizing a tap, he threw it as hard as he could against the wall. Draco followed his lead and threw a brick. The troll stopped a few feet from Hermione. It lumbered around, blinking stupidly, to see what had made the noise. Its mean little eyes saw Draco and Mokuba. It hesitated, then made for him instead, lifting its club as it went.

"Oy, pea-brain!" yelled Ron from the other side of the chamber, and he threw a metal pipe at it. The troll didn't even seem to notice the pipe hitting its shoulder, but it heard the yell and paused again, turning its ugly snout toward Ron instead, giving Mokuba time to run around it.

"Come on, run, run!" Draco yelled at Hermione, trying to pull her toward the door, but she couldn't move, she was still flat against the wall, her mouth open with terror. Mokuba groaned. They needed to get out of there but they couldn't if Hermione couldn't move. The shouting and the echoes seemed to be driving the troll berserk. It roared again and started toward Ron, who was nearest and had no way to escape.

Mokuba, without thinking, grabbed one of his cards and used a hologram spell him and Seto found before school started. The hologram appeared so suddenly that it startled the troll and successfully distracted it.

Hermione had sunk to the floor in fright; Ron pulled out his own wand - not knowing what he was going to do he heard himself cry the first spell that came into his head: "Wingardium Leviosa!" The club flew suddenly out of the troll's hand, rose high, high up into the air, turned slowly over - and dropped, with a sickening crack, onto its owner's head. The troll swayed on the spot and then fell flat on its face, with a thud that made the whole room tremble. Mokuba got to his feet. He was shaking and out of breath. Ron was standing there with his wand still raised, staring at what he had  
done.

It was Hermione who spoke first. "Is it - dead?"

"I don't think so," said Mokuba, "I think it's just been knocked out."

"What did you do?" Draco asked, looking back at Mokuba with a confused expression.

A sudden slamming and loud footsteps made the three of them look up and interuppted what Mokuba was about to say. They hadn't realized what a racket they had been making, but of course, someone downstairs must have heard the crashes and the troll's roars. A moment later, Professor McGonagall had come bursting into the room, closely followed by Snape and Seto, with Quirrell bringing up the rear. Quirrell took one look at the troll, let out a faint whimper, and sat quickly down on a toilet, clutching his heart. Snape, after glaring at Draco, bent over the troll. Professor McGonagall was looking at Ron and Mokuba. Mokuba had never seen her look so angry. Her lips were white.

"What on earth were you thinking of?" said Professor McGonagall, with cold fury in her voice. Mokuba looked at Ron, who was still standing with his wand in the air. "You're lucky you weren't killed. Why aren't you in your dormitory? i'm talking to you too, Mr. Malfoy."

Snape gave both Mokuba and Draco a swift, piercing look. Draco looked to the wall and Mokuba looked at the floor. He wished Ron would put his wand down. Then a small voice came out of the shadows.

"Please, Professor McGonagall - they were looking for me."

"Miss Granger!"

Hermione had managed to get to her feet at last. "I went looking for the troll because I - I thought I could deal with it on my own - you know, because I've read all about them." Ron dropped his wand. Hermione Granger, telling a downright lie to a teacher? "If they hadn't found me, I'd be dead now. Mokuba and Draco distracted it and Ron knocked it out with its own club. They didn't have time to come and fetch anyone. It was about to finish me off when they arrived." The boys tried to look as though this story wasn't new to them.

"Well - in that case..." said Professor McGonagall, staring at the three of them, "Miss Granger, you foolish girl, how could you think of tackling a mountain troll on your own?" Hermione hung her head. Mokuba was speechless. Hermione was the last person to do anything against the rules, and here she was, pretending she had, to get them out of trouble. It was as if Snape had started handing out sweets.

"Miss Granger, five points will be taken from Gryffindor for this," said Professor McGonagall. "I'm very disappointed in you. If you're not hurt at all, you'd better get off to Gryffindor tower. Students are finishing the feast in their houses." Hermione left. Professor McGonagall turned to Mokuba and Ron.

"Well, I still say you were lucky, but not many first years could have taken on a full-grown mountain troll. You each win Gryffindor five points. Professor Dumbledore will be informed of this. You may go."

"And ten points to Syltherin, Mr. Malfoy." Snape cut in. "You will stay me until I can get you back to your dorm."

"Mokuba..." Seto sounded annoyed. "Go with Mr. Weasley and stay in the commen room until I come get you."

Mokuba and Ron sent a sorry look to Draco before they hurried out of the chamber and didn't speak at all until they had climbed two floors up. It was a relief to be away from the smell of the troll, quite apart from anything else.

"We should have gotten more than ten points," Ron grumbled. "And Draco got the same thing."

"Five, you mean, once she's taken off Hermione's." Mokuba commented. "Draco got more then us."

"Good of her to get us out of trouble like that," Ron admitted. "Mind you, we did save her."

"She might not have needed saving if we hadn't locked the thing in with her," Mokuba reminded him. They had reached the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"Pig snout," they said and entered.

The common room was packed and noisy. Everyone was eating the food that had been sent up. Hermione, however, stood alone by the door, waiting for them. There was a very embarrassed pause. Then, none of them looking at each other, they all said "Thanks," and hurried off to get plates. But from that moment on, Hermione Granger became their friend. There are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them.

And thus was the start of the group of Mokuba Kaiba, Draco Malfoy, Ron Weasley, and Hermione  
Granger.

**K, so I know in the movies, they had all classes with the slytherins but in the books, they only had ** _**potions and flying lessons. And I'm not updating again until I get somemore reviews! Two for a **__**chapter seems good...**_


	7. Chapter 7

Christmas was coming. One morning in mid-December, Hogwarts woke to find itself covered in several feet of snow. The lake froze solid and the Weasley twins were punished for bewitching several snowballs so that they followed Quirrell around, bouncing off the back of his turban. The few owls that managed to battle their way through the stormy sky to deliver mail had to be nursed back to health by Hagrid before they could fly off again.

No one could wait for the holidays to start. While the Gryffindor common room(Mokuba didn't know about the Syltherin common room for, even if he was allowed in there, he did not feel welcome) and the Great Hall had roaring fires, the drafty corridors had become icy and a bitter wind rattled the windows in the classrooms. Worst of all were Professor Snape's classes down in the dungeons, where their breath rose in a mist before them and they kept as close as possible to their hot cauldrons.

"Are you going back to Japan for Christmas?" Draco asked and Ron looked over to see his answer.

"Nope!" Mokuba smiled. "Me and Seto are staying here until summer!"

It was true that Mokuba wasn't going back to Japan for Christmas. Professor McGonagall had come around the week before, making a list of students who would be staying for the holidays, and Mokuba had signed up at once. He didn't feel sorry for himself at all; this would probably be the best Christmas he'd ever had. Ron and his brothers were staying, too, because Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were going to Romania to visit Charlie. Draco and Hermione were going home to their families but even still, Mokuba gets to spend Christmas with his brother and his friends!

When they left the dungeons at the end of Potions, they found a large fir tree blocking the corridor ahead. Two enormous feet sticking out at the bottom and a loud puffing sound told them that Hagrid was behind it.

"Hi, Hagrid, want any help?" Ron asked, sticking his head through the branches.

"Nah, I'm all right, thanks, Ron."

"Would you mind moving out of the way?" Draco asked, drawling though prouably not on purpose. Mokuba saw Ron twitch at the voice, though the redhead ignored it. Nothing would happened if Blaise, another Syltherin first ear that had openly stated how much he hated Mokuba, hadn't walked up at that moment.

"Are you trying to earn some extra money, Weasley? Hoping to be gamekeeper yourself when you leave Hogwarts, I suppose - that hut of Hagrid's must seem like a palace compared to what your family's used to."

Ron dived at Blaise just as Snape came up the stairs.

"WEASLEY!"

Ron let go of the front of Blaise's robes.

"He was provoked, Professor Snape," said Hagrid, sticking his huge hairy face out from behind the tree. "Blaise was insultin' his family."

"It's true sir!" Draco and Mokuba said in unison hoping to get their fiend out of trouble.

"Be that as it may, fighting is against Hogwarts rules, Hagrid," said Snape silkily. "Five points from Gryffindor, Weasley, and be grateful it isn't more. Move along, all of you."

"Though if I must say," Came Seto's voice from behind Snape. Mokuba smiled at the sight of his older brother. "It was provoked, and Mr. Weasley had a right to defend his family. Five points from Slytherin for starting a fight, and 3 points to Gryffindor for ending it."

Snape scowled at the brunette. "You can't just-"

"Oh, I think I can." Seto said smirking. "As a teacher, I can take away and give out points to anyone I see fit."

Snape scowl darken and he lefted back up the stairs with a swoosh of his coat. Blaise pushed roughly past the tree, scattering needles everywhere and sculking.

"I'll get him," said Ron, grinding his teeth at Blaise's back, "one of these days, I'll get him-"

"He disgraces the name of Slytherin." Draco said.

"I hate them both," said Mokuba, "Blaise and Snape." He turned to Seto. "Thanks, Nii-sama! Snape can be a real jerk." Seto nodded.

"Come on, cheer up, it's nearly Christmas," said Hagrid. "Tell yeh what, come with me an' see the Great Hall, looks a treat. You come too, Professor."

"Sorry, but I need to go. Mokuba," He turned to his brother. "I need to talk to you tonight, in our room." Mokuba nodded and Seto walked off.

So the four of them followed Hagrid and his tree off to the Great Hall, where Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick were busy with the Christmas decorations.

"Ah, Hagrid, the last tree - put it in the far corner, would you?"

The hall looked spectacular. Festoons of holly and mistletoe hung all around the walls, and no less than twelve towering Christmas trees stood around the room, some sparkling with tiny icicles, some glittering with hundreds of candles.

"How many days you got left until yer holidays?" Hagrid asked.

"Just one," said Hermione. "You know, Snape seems to really hate Mokuba. And he seems to be up to something."

"Rubbish," said Hagrid. "Why would Snape hate him? And what would he be doing?"

Mokuba, Ron, Draco, and Hermione looked at one another, wondering what to tell him. Mokuba decided on the truth.

"I found out something about him," he told Hagrid. "He tried to get past that three-headed dog on Halloween. We think he was trying to steal whatever it's guarding."

Hagrid dropped the tree.

"How do you know about Fluffy?" he said.

"Fluffy ?"

"Yeah - he's mine - bought him off a Greek chappie I met in the pub las' year - I lent him to Dumbledore to guard the-"

"Yes?" said Mokuba eagerly.

"Now, don't ask me anymore," said Hagrid gruffly. "That's top secret, that is."

"But Snape's trying to steal it."

"Rubbish," said Hagrid again. "Snape's a Hogwarts teacher, he'd do nothin' of the sort."

"He is!" Hermione said.

"I'm tellin' yeh, yer wrong!" said Hagrid hotly. "Now, listen to me, all three of yeh - yer meddlin' in things that don' concern yeh. It's dangerous. You forget that dog, an' you forget what it's guardin', that's between Professor Dumbledore an' Nicolas Flamel-"

"Aha!" said Draco, "so there's someone called Nicolas Flamel involved, is there?"

Hagrid looked furious with himself.

Hermione nodded. "Mokuba, Ron, Draco, we've got half an hour before lunch, we should be in the library."

"Oh yeah, you're right," said Ron, catchng what Hermione was saying. "We should."

"The library?" said Hagrid, following them out of the hall, trying to change the subject. "Just before the holidays? Bit keen, aren't yeh?"

"Oh, we're not working," Mokuba told him brightly. "Since you mentioned Nicolas Flamel we're going to try to find out who he is."

"You what?" Hagrid looked shocked. "Listen here - I've told yeh - drop it. It's nothin' to you what that dog's guardin'."

"We just want to know who Nicolas Flamel is, that's all," said Draco.

"Unless you'd like to tell us and save us the trouble?" Mokuba added. "Just give us a hint - I know I've read his name somewhere."

"I'm sayin' nothin' more," said Hagrid flatly.

"Just have to find out for ourselves, then," said Ron, and they left Hagrid looking disgruntled and hurried off to the library.

They were indeed going to be searching books for Flamel's name since Hagrid had let it slip, because how else were they going to find out what Snape was trying to steal? The trouble was, it was very hard to know where to begin, not knowing what Flamel might have done to get himself into a book. He wasn't in Great Wizards of the Twentieth Century, or Notable Magical Names of Our Time; he was missing, too, from Important Modern Magical Discoveries, and A Study of Recent Developments in Wizardry. And then, of course, there was the sheer size of the library; tens of thousands of books; thousands of shelves; hundreds of narrow rows.

They had finally just started pulling books off the shelves at random. Mokuba wandered over to the Restricted Section. He wondered if Flamel wasn't somewhere in there. Unfortunately, you needed a specially signed note from one of the teachers to look in any of the restricted books, and he knew he'd never get one, even from Seto. That was one conversatio he didn not want to have. These were the books containing powerful Dark Magic never taught at Hogwarts, and only read by older students studying advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts.

"What are you looking for, boy?"

"Nothing," said Mokuba.

Madam Pince the librarian brandished a feather duster at him.

"You'd better get out, then. Go on - out!"

Wishing he'd been a bit quicker at thinking up some story, Mokuba left the library. He, Draco, Ron, and Hermione had already agreed they'd better not ask Madam Pince where they could find Flamel. They were sure she'd be able to tell them, but they couldn't risk Snape hearing what they were up to.

Mokuba waited outside in the corridor to see if the other two had found anything, but he wasn't very hopeful. It just wasn't enough time. What they really needed was a nice long search without Madam Pince breathing down their necks.

Five minutes later, Draco, Ron, and Hermione joined him, shaking their heads. They went off to lunch.

"You will keep looking while I'm away, won't you?" said Hermione.

"And send both of us an owl if you find anything." Draco added.

"And you could ask your parents if they know who Flamel is," said Ron said to Hermione. "It'd be safe to ask them."

"Very safe, as they're both dentists," said Hermione.

"I'm not going to mention any of you at home." Draco said firmly. "Dad'll freak!"

xXx

Mokuba stuck his head in his and Seto's shared room. Seto was sitting on the couch, reading a book. "You wanted to see me Nii-Sama?" He called out, coming into the room fully and closing the door behind him. Seto looked up and nodded at him. The brunette marked his place in his book and set in down beside him. Mokuba then joined him on the couch. "What did you want to talk about?"

Seto looked vaguly annoyed, which has quickly become his main expression here in school."Magic is obviously real..." He started. Mokuba just let him talk, knowing he was working up to talk about what he needed to talk about. "And with all this proof, I can't very well ignore the geek squad anymore. I have to admit that they have magic, only a older version." Mokuba smiled. Seto finally admitted! "And ever since I admitted that..." He trailed off looking even more annoyed then before. He sighed and just stood up. "Just... just look out for Snape. He's much to dark for my tastes. Do you want to duel?"

Mokuba blinked at the sudden change of subject but nodded anyway. What did Seto not want to say?

xXx

Once the holidays had started, Ron and Mokuba were having too good a time to think much about Flamel-or the thing Seto told him to look out for. They had the dormitory to themselves and the common room was far emptier than usual, so they were able to get the good armchairs by the fire. They sat by the hour eating anything they could spear on a toasting fork - bread, English muffins, marshmallows - and plotting ways of getting some of the people they didn't like expelled, which were fun to talk about even if they wouldn't work.

Ron also started teaching Mokuba wizard chess. This was exactly like Muggle chess except that the figures were alive, which made it a lot like directing troops in battle. It brought back memories of the orphange, though not really bad ones. Ron's set was very old and battered. Like everything else he owned, it had once belonged to someone else in his family - in this case, his grandfather. However, old chessmen weren't a drawback at all. Ron knew them so well he never had trouble getting them to do what he wanted.

Mokuba played with chessmen Seamus Finnigan had lent him, and they didn't trust him at all. He was a very good player but they kept shouting different bits of advice at him, which was confusing. "Don't send me there, can't you see his knight? Send him, we can afford to lose him."

On Christmas Eve, Mokuba went to bed looking forward to the next day for the food and the fun, but not expecting many presents at all. From his brother and his friends but that was it. When he woke up early in the morning, however, the first thing he saw was a pile of packages at the foot of his bed.

"Merry Christmas," said Ron sleepily as Mokuba scrambled out of bed and pulled on his bathrobe.

"You, too," said Mokuba. "Will you look at this? I've got so many presents!"

"What did you expect, turnips?" said Ron, turning to his own pile, which was a lot bigger than Mokuba's.

Mokuba picked up the top parcel. It was wrapped in thick brown paper and scrawled across it was To Mokuba, from Hagrid. Inside was a roughly cut wooden flute. Hagrid had obviously whittled it himself. Mokuba blew it - it sounded a bit like an owl.

His next one was from Seto, who got him card versions of his capsule monsters.

"Sweet!" said Mokuba, beaming at his cards.

Ron was fascinated by the cards.

"Weird!" he said, "What are these?"

"Oh thats right," said Mokuba, laughing at how pleased Ron was. "I promised I would teach you Duel Monsters if we were in the same house, right? Well, I'll teach you after breakfest, kay?" Ron nodded and Mokuba turned back to his presents. "Hagrid and my brother-Draco did he'll give us our presents when he got back, so who are these from?"

"I think I know who that one's from," said Ron, turning a bit pink and pointing to a very lumpy parcel. "My mom. I told her you didn't expect many presents and - oh, no," he groaned, "she's made you a Weasley sweater."

Mokuba had torn open the parcel to find a thick, hand-knitted sweater in purple with a Japanese flag stitched into the arm and a large box of homemade fudge.

"Every year she makes us a sweater," said Ron, unwrapping his own, "and mine's always maroon."

"That's really nice of her," said Mokuba, trying the fudge, which was very tasty.

His next present also contained candy - a large box of Chocolate Frogs from Hermione.

This only left one parcel. Mokuba picked it up and felt it. It was very light. He unwrapped it.

Something fluid and silvery gray went slithering to the floor where it lay in gleaming folds. Ron gasped.

"I've heard of those," he said in a hushed voice, dropping the box of Every Flavor Beans he'd gotten from Hermione. "If that's what I think it is - they're really rare, and really valuable."

"What is it?"

Mokuba picked the shining, silvery cloth off the floor. It was strange to the touch, like water woven into material.

"It's an invisibility cloak," said Ron, a look of awe on his face. "I'm sure it is - try it on."

Mokuba threw the cloak around his shoulders and Ron gave a yell.

"It is! Look down!"

Mokuba looked down at his feet, but they were gone. He dashed to the mirror. Sure enough, his reflection looked back at him, just his head suspended in midair, his body completely invisible. He pulled the cloak over his head and his reflection vanished completely.

"There's a note!" said Ron suddenly. "A note fell out of it!"

Mokuba pulled off the cloak and seized the letter. Written in narrow, loopy writing he had never seen before were the following words:

Your father left this in my possession before he died.

It is time it was returned to you.

Use it well.

A Very Merry Christmas to you.

There was no signature. Mokuba stared at the note. His father? James Potter, he was sure, because this didn't look like anything his step father would own. Ron was admiring the cloak.

"I'd give anything for one of these," he said. "Anything. What's the matter?"

"Nothing," said Mokuba. He felt very strange. Who had sent the cloak? Had it really once belonged to his father? Should he tell Seto? He was already hiding Fluffy from him, what else?

Before he could say or think anything else, the dormitory door was flung open and Fred and George Weasley bounded in. Mokuba stuffed the cloak quickly out of sight.

"Merry Christmas!"

"Hey, look - Mokuba's got a Weasley sweater, too!"

Fred and George were wearing blue sweaters, one with a large yellow F on it, the other a G.

"Mokuba's is better than ours, though," said Fred, holding up Mokuba's sweater. "She obviously makes more of an effort if you're not family."

"Why aren't you wearing yours, Ron?" George demanded. "Come on, get it on, they're lovely and warm."

"I hate maroon," Ron moaned halfheartedly as he pulled it over his head.

"You haven't got a letter on yours," George observed. "I suppose she thinks you don't forget your name. But we're not stupid - we know we're called Gred and Forge."

"What's all this noise?"

Percy Weasley stuck his head through the door, looking disapproving. He had clearly gotten halfway through unwrapping his presents as he, too, carried a lumpy sweater over his arm, which Fred seized.

"P for prefect! Get it on, Percy, come on, we're all wearing ours, even Mokuba got one."

"I - don't - want - " said Percy thickly, as the twins forced the sweater over his head, knocking his glasses askew.

"And you're not sitting with the prefects today, either," said George. "Christmas is a time for family."

They frog-marched Percy from the room, his arms pinned to his side by his sweater.

Mokuba had never in all his life had such a Christmas dinner. Oh, sure, he had lots of big Christmas dinner, but they never had this homy feeling, even after his step father's death. A hundred fat, roast turkeys; mountains of roast and boiled potatoes; platters of chipolatas; tureens of buttered peas, silver boats of thick, rich gravy and cranberry sauce - and stacks of wizard crackers every few feet along the table. These fantastic party favors were nothing like the feeble Muggle ones the they usually had at home, with their little plastic toys and their flimsy paper hats inside. Mokuba pulled a wizard cracker with Fred and it didn't just bang, it went off with a blast like a cannon and engulfed  
them all in a cloud of blue smoke, while from the inside exploded a rear admiral's hat and several live, white mice. Up at the High Table, Dumbledore had swapped his pointed wizard's hat for a flowered bonnet, and was chuckling merrily at a joke Professor Flitwick had just read him.

Flaming Christmas puddings followed the turkey. Percy nearly broke his teeth on a silver sickle embedded in his slice. Mokuba watched Hagrid getting redder and redder in the face as he called for more wine, finally kissing Professor McGonagall on the cheek, who, to Mokuba's amazement, giggled and blushed, her top hat lopsided. Mokuba snickered at Seto's annoyed look. He hoped his brother's blood pressure would survive the year.

When Mokuba finally left the table, he was laden down with a stack of things out of the crackers, including a pack of nonexplodable, luminous balloons, a Grow-Your-Own-Warts kit, and his own new wizard chess set. The white mice had disappeared and Mokuba had a nasty feeling they were going to end up as Mrs. Norris's Christmas dinner.

Mokuba and the Weasleys spent a happy afternoon having a furious snowball fight on the grounds, and even Seto joined in atleast once. Then, cold, wet, and gasping for breath, they returned to the fire in the Gryffindor common room, where Mokuba broke in his new chess set by beating Ron. He suspected Ron wouldn't have lost so badly if Percy hadn't tried to help the redhead so much.

After a meal of turkey sandwiches, crumpets, trifle, and Christmas cake, everyone felt too full and sleepy to do much before bed except sit and watch Percy chase Fred and George all over Gryffindor tower because they'd stolen his prefect badge.

It had been Mokuba's best Christmas day ever. Yet something had been nagging at the back of his mind all day. Not until he climbed into bed was he free to think about it: the invisibility cloak and whoever had sent it.

Ron, full of turkey and cake and with nothing mysterious to bother him, fell asleep almost as soon as he'd drawn the curtains of his four-poster. Mokuba leaned over the side of his own bed and pulled the cloak out from under it.

His father's... this had been his real father's. He let the material flow over his hands, smoother than silk, light as air. Use it well, the note had said.

He had to try it, now. He slipped out of bed and wrapped the cloak around himself. Looking down at his legs, he saw only moonlight and shadows. It was a very funny feeling.

Use it well.

Suddenly, Mokuba felt wide-awake. The whole of Hogwarts was open to him in this cloak. Excitement flooded through him as he stood there in the dark and silence. He could go anywhere in this, anywhere, and Filch or his brother would never know.

Ron grunted in his sleep. Should Mokuba wake him? Something held him back - his father's cloak - he felt that this time - the first time - he wanted to use it alone.

He crept out of the dormitory, down the stairs, across the common room, and climbed through the portrait hole.

"Who's there?" squawked the Fat Lady. Mokuba said nothing. He walked quickly down the corridor.

Where should he go? He stopped, his heart racing, and thought. And then it came to him. The Restricted Section in the library. He'd be able to read as long as he liked, as long as it took to find out who Flamel was. He set off, drawing the invisibility cloak tight around him as he walked.

The library was pitch-black and very eerie. Mokuba lit a lamp to see his way along the rows of books. The lamp looked as if it was floating along in midair, and even though Mokuba could feel his arm supporting it, the sight gave him the creeps.

The Restricted Section was right at the back of the library. Stepping carefully over the rope that separated these books from the rest of the library, he held up his lamp to read the titles.

They didn't tell him much. Their peeling, faded gold letters spelled words in languages Mokuba couldn't understand. Some had no title at all. One book had a dark stain on it that looked horribly like blood. The hairs on the back of Mokuba's neck prickled. Maybe he was imagining it, maybe not, but he thought a faint whispering was coming from the books, as though they knew someone was there who shouldn't be. He hesitated. He knew how bad magic could get, getting his soul taken.

He had to start somewhere. Setting the lamp down carefully on the floor, he looked along the bottom shelf for an interesting looking book. A large black and silver volume caught his eye. He pulled it out with difficulty, because it was very heavy, and, balancing it on his knee, let it fall open.

A piercing, bloodcurdling shriek split the silence - the book was screaming! Mokuba snapped it shut, but the shriek went on and on, one high, unbroken, earsplitting note. He stumbled backward and knocked over his lamp, which went out at once. Panicking, he heard footsteps coming down the corridor outside - stuffing the shrieking book back on the shelf, he ran for it. He passed Filch in the doorway; Filch's pale, wild eyes looked straight through him, and Mokuba slipped under Filch's outstretched arm and streaked off up the corridor, the book's shrieks still ringing in his ears.

He came to a sudden halt in front of a tall suit of armor. He had been so busy getting away from the library, he hadn't paid attention to where he was going. Perhaps because it was dark, he didn't recognize where he was at all. There was a suit of armor near the kitchens, he knew, but he must be five floors above there.

"You asked me to come directly to you, Professor, if anyone was wandering around at night, and somebody's been in the library Restricted Section."

Mokuba felt the blood drain out of his face. Wherever he was, Filch must know a shortcut, because his soft, greasy voice was getting nearer, and to his horror, it was Snape who replied, "The Restricted Section? Well, they can't be far, we'll catch them."

Mokuba stood rooted to the spot as Filch and Snape came around the corner ahead. They couldn't see him, of course, but it was a narrow corridor and if they came much nearer they'd knock right into him - the cloak didn't stop him from being solid.

He backed away as quietly as he could. A door stood ajar to his left. It was his only hope. He squeezed through it, holding his breath, trying not to move it, and to his relief he managed to get inside the room without their noticing anything. They walked straight past, and Mokuba leaned against the wall, breathing deeply, listening to their footsteps dying away. That had been close, very close. It was a few seconds before he noticed anything about the room he had hidden in.

It looked like an unused classroom. The dark shapes of desks and chairs were piled against the walls, and there was an upturned wastepaper basket - but propped against the wall facing him was something that didn't look as if it belonged there, something that looked as if someone had just put it there to keep it out of the way.

It was a magnificent mirror, as high as the ceiling, with an ornate gold frame, standing on two clawed feet. There was an inscription carved around the top: Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi. His panic fading now that there was no sound of Filch and Snape, Mokuba moved nearer to the mirror, wanting to look at himself but see no reflection again. He stepped in front of it.

He had to clap his hands to his mouth to stop himself from screaming. He whirled around. His heart was pounding far more furiously than when the book had screamed - for he had seen not only himself in the mirror, but Seto and some other people standing right behind him.

But the room was empty. Breathing very fast, he turned slowly back to the mirror.

There he was, reflected in it, white and scared-looking, and there, reflected behind him, were at least ten others. Mokuba looked over his shoulder - but still, no one was there. Or were they all invisible, too? Was he in fact in a room full of invisible people and this mirror's trick was that it reflected them, invisible or not?

He looked in the mirror again. Seto was standing right behomd him and smiling, like he did when they were younger, before their step father. He reached out a hand and felt the air behind him. If he was really there(which would be odd because he wasn't chewing Mokuba out for bing out of his common room), he'd touch him, their reflections were so close together, but he felt only air - he and the others existed only in the mirror. On one side of him was a woman, who was smiling at Mokuba and waving.

She was a very pretty woman. She had dark red hair and her eyes - her eyes are just like mine, Mokuba thought, edging a little closer to the glass. Bright green(even if his eyes were now blueish) - exactly the same shape, but then he noticed that she was crying; smiling, but crying at the same time. A tall, thin, black-haired man standing on the other side of Seto wore glasses, and his hair was very untidy. It stuck up at the back, just as Mokuba's did, even this long. They both had a hand on Seto's shoulder.

Mokuba was so close to the mirror now that his nose was nearly touching that of his reflection.

"Mom?" he whispered. "Dad?"

It WAS his mom and dad, standing on either side of Seto, acing as if he was part of the family. It was something he never really thought about since he got to Hogwarts (He had a happy life and a older brother who loved him, so they couldn't object too much), but recently he had been thinking back to when Seto first met Yugi and the others. How evil he had acted before whatever Yami did to him, and how Mokuba had been just as bad. He winced when he thought of the gang of his classmates that he used to threaten Yugi/Yami with(After words, they only saw him screaming to be let out, not him being trapped in a capsule and ditched him for 'being a wimp' as they called it), and how Seto knew about it and was ok with it. Would his parents be ok with that?

They just looked at him, smiling, though. And slowly, Mokuba looked into the faces of the other people in the mirror, and saw other pairs of green eyes like his, other noses like his, even a little old man who looked as though he had Mokuba's knobbly knees - Mokuba was looking at his family, his complete family, for the first time in his life.

The Potters smiled and waved at Mokuba, then held hands with Seto, and he stared hungrily back at them, his hands pressed flat against the glass as though he was hoping to fall right through it and reach them. He had a powerful kind of ache inside him, half joy, half terrible sadness.

How long he stood there, he didn't know. The reflections did not fade and he looked and looked until a distant noise brought him back to his senses. He couldn't stay here, he had to find his way back to bed. He couldn't come back, though. He knew he couldn't. He already didn't want to leave, and if he came back, he may never be able to. He glanced back to the reflections and resolved not to think about it anymore. He ran out of the room under the cloak.

"You could have woken me up," said Ron, crossly.

"Sorry, but it wasn't anything special. It just showed your reflection, like a normal mirror." Mokuba lied that morning at breakfast He knew if he told Ron about what the mirror does, because the redhead would convince him to show him the mirror.

"You could have still woke me," said Ron. "Shame about not finding Flamel, though. Have some bacon or something, why aren't you eating anything?"

Mokuba couldn't eat. He had seen his parents with Seto and couldn't get them out of his mind. He had almost forgotten about Flamel. He shook his head to clear it.

"Are you all right?" said Ron. "You look odd."

"Ya, I'm fine." Mokuba muttered, taking a bite of a pancake so Ron wouldn't say anything else about him not eating. Though he expected it to not work and Ron to say something else, so when he didn't, Mokuba was surprised. Though he found out the reason soon after.

"Are you ok, Mokuba?" His brother had walked up without him knowing. Mokuba turned to face him and nodded, trying to look as convincing as possible. Mokuba would be fine, once he got that image out of his head. Seto narrowed his eyes but just sighed and shook his head. He knew by now not to try to argue with Mokuba when it came to these things. He quickly looked around, seeing who was there. Mokuba just watched, confused. What was his brother doing? It was still farily early and, being break, the few students that stayed slept to lunch, so the Great Hall was empty of everyone but them and the three teachers who stayed over as well. The only reason him and Ron were there was  
because Ron woke him up with a nightmare. Something about tap danceing spiders...?

Seto broke him out of his thoughts, by knelling down and SMILING. Like when they were younger! "Just tell me if you start to catch something, okay?"

Mokuba nodded, stunned, then he smiled too. The image of his parents was replaced with his brother smiling. Seto always knew how to make him feel better, even if he didn't know what was going on.

**_Someone asked for more Seto. There you go! Though he won't be there alot. Hes _****there ****_but he also has a class to teach. That, and he's so hard to write and keep in character!_**

**_If anyone is OOC, please correct me and I'll try to fix it in future chapters._**

**_On a different note, have you ever look back on something and realize your mind has made the memory!people's reactions are in anime form? Cause I just realized mine does that... _**


	8. Chapter 8

Hermione and Draco, who both had come back the day before term started, each took a different view of things. She was torn between horror at the idea of Mokuba being out of bed, roaming the school ("If Filch had caught you!"), and disappointment that he hadn't at least found out who Nicolas Flamel was, while he was mad that he had not waited until the blondhad gotten back, much like Ron was ("You could of waited!").

They had almost given up hope of ever finding Flamel in a library book, even though Mokuba was still sure he'd read the name somewhere. Once term had started, they were back to skimming through books for ten minutes during their breaks. Now, they were discussing it in the Gryffindor common room, of course without Draco. They would fill him in later. Mokuba was sitting there, petting Kuro.

At that moment Neville toppled into the common room. How he had managed to climb through the portrait hole was anyone's guess, because his legs had been stuck together with what they recognized at once as the Leg-Locker Curse. He must have had to bunny hop all the way up to Gryffindor tower.

Everyone fell over laughing except Hermione, who leapt up and performed the countercurse. Neville's legs sprang apart and he got to his feet, trembling. "What happened?" Hermione asked him, leading him over to sit with Mokuba and Ron.

"A Slytherin," said Neville shakily. "I don't know his name, but I met him outside the library. He said he'd been looking for someone to practice that on."

"Go to Professor McGonagall!" Hermione urged Neville. "Report him!"

Neville shook his head.

"I don't want more trouble," he mumbled.

"You've got to stand up to him, Neville!" said Ron. "He's used to walking all over people, but that's no reason to lie down in front of him and make it easier." Mokuba saw that this was a stupid thing to say and slapped Ron over the head.

"OW!" Ron yelled, looking at Mokuba with a half glare, half confused exprestion. "What was that for Mate?!" Mokuba opened his mouth to answer but Neville got in before he could.

"There's no need to tell me I'm not brave enough to be in Gryffindor, the Slytherins have already done that," Neville choked out.

Mokuba felt in the pocket of his robes and pulled out a Chocolate Frog, the very last one from the box Hermione had given him for Christmas. He gave it to Neville, who looked as though he might cry.

"You're worth twelve of those Slytherins," Mokuba said. "The Sorting Hat chose you for Gryffindor, didn't it?"

Neville's lips twitched in a weak smile as he unwrapped the frog.

"Thanks, Mokuba... I think I'll go to bed... D'you want the card, you collect them, don't you?" Mokuba shook his head and Neville gave the card to Ron, not wanting it anyway.

As Neville walked away, Ron looked at the Famous Wizard card.

"Dumbledore again," he said, "I have, like, 15 of these-" He Cut off and gasped. He stared at the back of the card. Then he looked up at Mokuba and Hermione.

"I've found him!" he whispered. "I've found Flamel! I told you I'd read the name somewhere before, I read it got this card - listen to this: 'Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood, and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel'!"

Mokuba facepalmed. "Dumbledore is the card I got on the train! How did I miss that?!"

Hermione jumped to her feet. She hadn't looked so excited since they'd gotten back the marks for their very first piece of homework. "Stay there!" she said, and she sprinted up the stairs to the girls' dormitories. Mokuba and Ron barely had time to exchange mystified looks before she was dashing back, an enormous old book in her arms. "I never thought to look in here!" she whispered excitedly. "I got this out of the library weeks ago for a bit of light reading."

"Light?" said Ron, but Hermione told him to be quiet until she'd looked something up, and started flicking frantically through the pages, muttering to herself. At last she found what she was looking for.

"I knew it! I knew it!"

"Are we allowed to speak yet?" said Mokuba, amused at Hermione's reaction. Hermione ignored him.

"Nicolas Flamel," she whispered dramatically, "is the only known maker of the Sorcerer's Stone!"

This didn't have quite the effect she'd expected.

"The what?" said Mokuba and Ron.

"Oh, honestly, don't you two read? Look - read that, there."

She pushed the book toward them, and Mokuba and Ron read:

"The ancient study of alchemy is concerned with making the Sorcerer's Stone, a legendary substance with astonishing powers. The stone will transform any metal into pure gold. It also produces the Elixir of Life, which will make the drinker immortal. There have been many reports of the Sorcerer's Stone over the centuries, but the only Stone currently in existence belongs to Mr. Nicolas Flamel, the noted alchemist and opera lover. Mr. Flamel, who celebrated his six hundred and sixty-fifth birthday last year, enjoys a quiet life in Devon with his wife, Perenelle (six hundred and fifty-eight)."

"See?" said Hermione, when Mokuba and Ron had finished. "The dog must be guarding Flamel's Sorcerer's Stone! I bet he asked Dumbledore to keep it safe for him, because they're friends and he knew someone was after it, that's why he wanted the Stone moved out of Gringotts!"

"A stone that makes gold and stops you from ever dying!" said Mokuba. "No wonder Snape's after it! Anyone would want it."

"And no wonder we couldn't find Flamel in that Study of Recent Developments in Wizardry," said Ron. "He's not exactly recent if he's six hundred and sixty-five, is he?"

Mokuba nodded. "We nned to tell Draco about this."

xXx

The next day, at the Hufflepuff vs Gryffindor match, Mokuba and the others were sitting in the stands, when Mokuba caught sight of Snape in the Teacher's Stands.

"I've never seen Snape look so mean," he told the other three. "Look - they're off. Ouch!"

Someone had poked Mokuba in the back of the head. It was Nott.

"Oh, sorry, Kaiba, didn't see you there."

Nott grinned broadly at Blaise and Pansy.

"Wonder how long Malfoy's going to hang out with the geeks? Anyone want a bet? What about you, Weasley?"

Ron didn't answer, he was watching the game. Hermione, who had all her fingers crossed in her lap, looked at Draco, who was clencing and uncleching his fists.

"You know how I think they choose people for the Gryffindor team?" said Blaise loudly a few minutes later. "It's people they feel sorry for. See, there's the Weasleys, who've got no money - you should be on the team, Longbottom, Kaiba, you've got no brains or parents."

Neville went bright red but turned in his seat to face the Slytherins.

"I'm worth twelve of you." he stammered.

The Slytherins howled with laughter, but Ron, still not daring to take his eyes from the game, said, "You tell him, Neville." Draco nodded.

"Longbottom, if brains were gold you'd be poorer than Weasley, and that's saying something."

Ron gritted his teeth. Mokuba got ready to hold him back.

"And what about you, Malfoy? What would you say if I told your father who your hanging out with?"

None of them saw Draco going red.

"I'm warning you, Nott, Blaise- one more word-" Mokuba said, glaring, but was cut off by Hermione.

"Ron! Mokuba!" said Hermione suddenly, "Draco-"

"What?"

That last comment about telling his father made Draco snap. Before Nott knew what was happening, Draco was on top of him, wrestling him to the ground. Neville hesitated, then clambered over the back of his seat to help. Ron soon followed, Mokuba stunned enough to not hold him back.

"Help them, Mokuba!" Hermione screamed, turning to Mokuba. He shrugged and joined in.

xXx

He just needed to get away. Hermione was chiding everyone out for that fight and he didn't even want to face Seto right now. Mokuba had reached the shed. He leaned against the wooden door and looked up at Hogwarts, with its windows glowing red in the setting sun. The seeker had caught the snitch. Gryffindor in the lead. He smiled. These points will make up for all the ones Snape kept taking away.

And speaking of Snape...

A hooded figure came swiftly down the front steps of the castle. Clearly not wanting to be seen, it walked as fast as possible toward the forbidden forest. Mokuba's victory faded from his mind as he watched. He recognized the figure's prowling walk. Snape, sneaking into the forest while everyone else was at dinner - what was going on?

Mokuba jumped on a broom and took off. This was the first time he flew outside of class but he was still pretty good at it. Gliding silently over the castle he saw Snape enter the forest at a run. He followed.

The trees were so thick he couldn't see where Snape had gone. He flew in circles, lower and lower, brushing the top branches of trees until he heard voices. He glided toward them and landed noiselessly in a towering beech tree.

He climbed carefully along one of the branches, holding tight to the broomstick, trying to see through the leaves.

Below, in a shadowy clearing, stood Snape, but he wasn't alone. Quirrell was there, too. Mokuba couldn't make out the look on his face, but he was stuttering worse than ever. Mokuba strained to catch what they were saying.

"... d-don't know why you wanted t-t-to meet here of all p-places, Severus..."

"Oh, I thought we'd keep this private," said Snape, his voice icy. "Students aren't supposed to know about the Sorcerer's Stone, after all."

Mokuba leaned forward. Quirrell was mumbling something. Snape interrupted him.

"Have you found out how to get past that beast of Hagrid's yet?"

"B-b-but Severus, I-"

"You don't want me as your enemy, Quirrell," said Snape, taking a step toward him.

"I-I don't know what you-"

"You know perfectly well what I mean."

An owl hooted loudly, and Mokuba nearly fell out of the tree. He steadied himself in time to hear Snape say, " - your little bit of hocus-pocus. I'm waiting."

"B-but I d-d-don't-"

"Very well," Snape cut in. "We'll have another little chat soon, when you've had time to think things over and decided where your loyalties lie."

He threw his cloak over his head and strode out of the clearing. It was almost dark now, but Mokuba could see Quirrell, standing quite still as though he was petrified.

"Mokuba, where have you been ?" Hermione squeaked.

"I've waiting for you in the common room, we're having a party, Fred and George stole some cakes and stuff from the kitchens." shouted Ron, thumping Mokuba on the back. "Even Draco got let in when we ungeled his hair, and gave him Gryffindor robes and glasses! Nobody really looked close enough!" Draco nodded.

"Never mind that now," said Mokuba breathlessly. "Let's find an empty room, you wait 'til you hear this..."

He made sure Peeves wasn't inside before shutting the door behind them, then he told them what he'd seen and heard.

"So we were right, it is the Sorcerer's Stone, and Snape's trying to force Quirrell to help him get it. He asked if he knew how to get past Fluffy - and he said something about Quirrell's 'hocus pocus' - I reckon there are other things guarding the stone apart from Fluffy, loads of enchantments, probably, and Quirrell would have done some anti-Dark Arts spell that Snape needs to break through-"

"So you mean the Stone's only safe as long as Quirrell stands up to Snape?" said Hermione in alarm.

"It'll be gone by next Tuesday," said Draco.

xXx

Quirrell, however, must have been braver than they'd thought. In the weeks that followed he did seem to be getting paler and thinner, but it didn't look as though he'd cracked yet.

Every time they passed the third-floor corridor, Mokuba, Draco, Ron, and Hermione would press their ears to the door to check that Fluffy was still growling inside. Snape was sweeping about in his usual bad temper, which surely meant that the Stone was still safe. Whenever Mokuba passed Quirrell these days he gave him an encouraging sort of smile, and both Ron and Draco had started telling people off for laughing at Quirrell's stutter.

Hermione, however, had more on her mind than the Sorcerer's Stone. She had started drawing up study schedules and color coding all her notes. Mokuba and Ron wouldn't have minded, but she kept nagging them to do the same. Draco was on her side, annoyly enough.

"Hermione, Draco, the exams are ages away."

"Ten weeks," Draco snapped.

"That's not ages, that's like a second to Nicolas Flamel." Hermione agreed.

"But we're not six hundred years old," Ron reminded her. "Anyway, what are you studying for, you already know it's an A."

"What am I studying for? Are you crazy? You realize we need to pass these exams to get into the second year? They're very important, I should have started studying a month ago, I don't know what's gotten into me..."

Unfortunately, the teachers seemed to be thinking along the same lines as Hermione and Draco. They piled so much homework on them that the Easter holidays weren't nearly as much fun as the Christmas ones. It was hard to relax with Hermione and Draco next to you reciting the twelve uses of dragon's blood or practicing wand movements. Moaning and yawning, Mokuba and Ron spent most of their free time in the library with them, trying to get through all their extra work.

"I'll never remember this," Ron burst out one afternoon, throwing down his quill and looking longingly out of the library window. It was the first really fine day they'd had in months. The sky was a clear, forget-me-not blue, and there was a feeling in the air of summer coming.

Mokuba, who was looking up "Dittany" in One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi, didn't look up until he heard Ron say, "Hagrid! What are you doing in the library?"

Hagrid shuffled into view, hiding something behind his back. He looked very out of place in his moleskin overcoat.

"Jus' lookin'," he said, in a shifty voice that got their interest at once. "An' what're you lot up ter?" He looked suddenly suspicious. "Yer not still lookin' fer Nicolas Flamel, are yeh?"

"Oh, we found out who he is ages ago," said Ron impressively. "And we know what that dog's guarding, it's a Sorcerer's St-"

"Shhhh!" Draco cut him off over his book.

Hagrid looked around quickly to see if anyone was listening. "Don' go shoutin' about it, what's the matter with yeh?"

"There are a few things we wanted to ask you, as a matter of fact," said Mokuba, "about what's guarding the Stone apart from Fluffy-"

"SHHHH!" said Hagrid this time. "Listen - come an' see me later, I'm not promisin' I'll tell yeh anythin', mind, but don' go rabbitin' about it in here, students aren' s'pposed ter know. They'll think I've told yeh-"

"See you later, then," said Mokuba.

Hagrid shuffled off.

"What was he hiding behind his back?" said Hermione thoughtfully.

"Do you think it had anything to do with the Stone?"

"I'm going to see what section he was in," said Ron, who'd had enough of working. He came back a minute later with a pile of books in his arms and slammed them down on the table.

"Dragons!" he whispered. "Hagrid was looking up stuff about dragons! Look at these: Dragon Species of Great Britain and Ireland; From Egg to Inferno, A Dragon Keeper's Guide."

"Hagrid's always wanted a dragon, he told me so the first time I ever met him," said Mokuba. "Then again, my brother does too..."

"But it's against our laws," said Ron. "Dragon breeding was outlawed by the Warlocks' Convention of 1709, everyone knows that. It's hard to stop Muggles from noticing us if we're keeping dragons in the back garden - anyway, you can't tame dragons, it's dangerous. You should see the burns Charlie's got off wild ones in Romania."

"But there aren't wild dragons in Britain?" said Mokuba.

"Of course there are," said Ron. "Common Welsh Green and Hebridean Blacks. The Ministry of Magic has a job hushing them up, I can tell you. Our kind have to keep putting spells on Muggles who've spotted them, to make them forget."

"So what on earth's Hagrid up to?" said Hermione.

When they knocked on the door of the gamekeeper's hut an hour later, they were surprised to see that all the curtains were closed. Hagrid called "Who is it?" before he let them in, and then shut the door quickly behind them. It was stifling hot inside. Even though it was such a warm day, there was a blazing fire in the grate. Hagrid made them tea and offered them stoat sandwiches, which they refused.

"So - yeh wanted to ask me somethin'?"

"Yes," said Mokuba. There was no point beating around the bush. "We were wondering if you could tell us what's guarding the Sorcerer's Stone apart from Fluffy."

Hagrid frowned at him.

"O' course I can't," he said. "Number one, I don' know meself. Number two, yeh know too much already, so I wouldn' tell yeh if I could. That Stone's here fer a good reason. It was almost stolen outta Gringotts - I s'ppose yeh've worked that out an' all? Beats me how yeh even know abou' Fluffy."

"Oh, come on, Hagrid, you might not want to tell us, but you do know, you know everything that goes on round here," said Hermione in a warm, flattering voice. Hagrid's beard twitched and they could tell he was smiling. "We only wondered who had done the guarding, really." Hermione went on. "We wondered who Dumbledore had trusted enough to help him, apart from you."

Hagrid's chest swelled at these last words. Mokuba, Draco, and Ron beamed at Hermione.

"Well, I don' s'pose it could hurt ter tell yeh that... let's see... he borrowed Fluffy from me... then some o' the teachers did enchantments... Professor Sprout - Professor Flitwick - Professor McGonagall - " he ticked them off on his fingers, "Professor Quirrell - an' Dumbledore himself did somethin', o' course. Hang on, I've forgotten someone. Oh yeah, Professor Snape."

"Snape?"

"Yeah - yer not still on abou' that, are yeh? Look, Snape helped protect the Stone, he's not about ter steal it."

Mokuba knew Draco, Ron, and Hermione were thinking the same as he was. If Snape had been in on protecting the Stone, it must have been easy to find out how the other teachers had guarded it. He probably knew everything - except, it seemed, Quirrell's spell and how to get past Fluffy.

"You're the only one who knows how to get past Fluffy. aren't you, Hagrid?" said Mokuba anxiously. "And you wouldn't tell anyone, would you? Not even one of the teachers?"

"Not a soul knows except me an' Dumbledore," said Hagrid proudly.

"Well, that's something," Mokuba muttered to the others. "Hagrid, can we have a window open? I'm boiling."

"Can't, Mokuba, sorry," said Hagrid. Mokuba noticed him glance at the fire. Mokuba looked at it, too.

"Hagrid - what's that?"

But he already knew what it was. In the very heart of the fire, underneath the kettle, was a huge, white egg.

"Ah," said Hagrid, fiddling nervously with his beard, "That's - er..."

"Where did you get it, Hagrid?" Asked Draco.

"It must've cost you a fortune." said Ron, crouching over the fire to get a closer look at the egg.

"Won it," said Hagrid. "Las' night. I was down in the village havin' a few drinks an' got into a game o' cards with a stranger. Think he was quite glad ter get rid of it, ter be honest."

"But what are you going to do with it when it's hatched?" said Hermione.

"Well, I've bin doin' some readin'," said Hagrid, pulling a large book from under his pillow. "Got this outta the library - Dragon Breeding for Pleasure and Profit - it's a bit outta date, o' course, but it's all in here. Keep the egg in the fire, 'cause their mothers breathe on I em, see, an' when it hatches, feed it on a bucket o' brandy mixed with chicken blood every half hour. An' see here - how ter recognize diff'rent eggs - what I got there's a Japanese Howaito Doragon. They're rare, them."

He looked very pleased with himself, but Hermione didn't.

"Hagrid, you live in a wooden house," she said.

But Hagrid wasn't listening. He was humming merrily as he stoked the fire.

So now they had something else to worry about: what might happen to Hagrid if anyone found out he was hiding an illegal dragon in his hut.

"Wonder what it's like to have a peaceful life," Ron sighed, as evening after evening they struggled through all the extra homework they were getting. Hermione had now started making study schedules for Mokuba and Ron, too. It was driving them nuts.

Then, one breakfast time, a school owl brought Mokuba another note from Hagrid. He had written only two words: It's hatching.

Mokuba did all he could think of. He went to the one teacher he knew he could trust- his brother. When the bell sounded from the castle at the end of their lesson, while his friends were going to Hagrid's hut, he ran to his brother's classroom. At the moment, Seto was grading papers.

"What is it, Mokuba?" He asked, without looking up from the papers. Then he scowled. "Stupid wizards. Don't even know the difference between a TV and a PC!"

Ignoring Seto's rant, Mokuba caught his breath to speak. "Seto! I need your help! Hagrid's got a dragon egg and it's hatching and I really need an adult on this and-" Seto cut him off.

"Whoa, wait, back up." He said, looking up at Mokuba, eyes narrowed. "Hagrid has an hatching dragon egg?"

"Yes! A Japanese on and Seto-" Mokuba was cut off again by Seto running out of the room. The black haired boy facepalmed. Why was the only adult he trusted here just as dragon obsessed as Hagrid?! He quickly followed his brother to the hut and Hagrid and the others greeted them, looking flushed and excited.

"It's nearly out." He ushered them inside.

The egg was lying on the table. There were deep cracks in it. Something was moving inside; a funny clicking noise was coming from it.

They all drew their chairs up to the table and watched with bated breath.

All at once there was a scraping noise and the egg split open. The baby dragon flopped onto the table. It wasn't exactly pretty; Mokuba thought it looked like a crumpled, white umbrella. Its spiny wings were huge compared to its skinny, sleek body, it had a long snout with wide nostrils, bulging, blue eyes. But what caught the Kaiba brothers attention was that it looked just like a baby version of the Blue Eyes White Dragon!

It sneezed. A couple of sparks flew out of its snout.

"Isn't he beautiful?" Hagrid murmured. Only Seto really nodded. Hagrid reached out a hand to stroke the dragon's head. It snapped at his fingers, showing pointed fangs.

"Bless him, look, he knows his mommy!" said Hagrid.

The dragon then stumbled over to Seto and started to nuzzle his hand. Hagrid defleated slightly but still was smiling. "It seems to like you a bit better, Kaiba." Seto just smiled softly-you could barely tell he was smiling- and started to pet the dragon.

"Hagrid," said Hermione, "how fast do Howaito Doragons grow, excatly?"

"Not really fast at all," Hagrid answered. "In fact, he won't get much bigger then this, really."

"Just let him go," Mokuba urged. He knew the dragon couldn't stay here.

"Set him free." Draco also knew and didn't want to give his father anything to fire Hagrid with.

"I can't," said Hagrid. "He's too little. He'd die."

"He's right," said Seto for the first time since they got in there. The dragon was now around his neck, looking like it was meant to be there. Mokuba sighed. He knew Seto wouldn't give up the dragon now. "I've decided to call her Kisara,"

Hagrid hadn't been doing his gamekeeping duties because the dragon was keeping him so busy, as Seto couldn't very well have the dragon with him inside the castle. There were empty brandy bottles and chicken feathers all over the floor.

"He's going to get in so much trouble," Mokuba heard both Draco and Ron mutter.

"Seto," said Mokuba loudly, "If you want to keep her, you need to find a way around those laws!"

Seto looked down and Kisara flew over to Hagrid-the little dragon had taken a liking to the half-gaint as well, though not as much as she had with Seto. Suddenly, Seto's head shot up.

"I'm Japanese!" He yelled, looking like he just had a breakthrough. Draco raised an eyebrow but Hermione beat him to whatever he was about to say.

"Yes, Professor," She said, looking at him like he was crazy. "Your point?"

"In Japan," Seto started to explain. "You can have a dragon, only if it is the same kind of dragon you have your wand core from."

Mokuba blinked. "Is that what you were looking up before school started? In the Leaky Caldron?"

Seto nodded. "And since my wandcore came from a Howaito Doragon, so I'm well within Japanese laws. The government can't push their laws on a forgiener! I'm safe!"

Mokuba rolled his eyes. Yep, he saw this coming. Seto always finds a way. And thats how Seto got his new familier, the white dragon Kisara.

**Y'all are wonderful~! Keep up with the reviews and I love the longer ones! If you want one of the scenes to include something, just tell me! I always love tips!**


	9. Chapter 9

"Stupid Government!" Mokuba looked up at his brother's scream, ignoring Aoimoku's startled crys. Seto threw a folded letter on his desk. Mokuba closed his Potions book that he was using to do his essay(5 feet on Draught of Living Death! Really?!), and crossed the room they shared to his brother's desk.

"What did they do?"

Seto looked up at him and scowled. "Those ba- stupid wizards are getting on to me for Kisara," Mokuba slightly smiled at his brother cut off curse. "They won't just let me go with the Japanese laws! They say that because I teach at Hogwarts I'm a British citizen."

"Then quit." Mokuba simply said.

"I can't." Seto ran his fingures through his hair. "If I do, I'm not allowed to live in the castle and I don't trust Dumbledore in the same castle as you!" He stood up. "I'm going to talk to Dumbledore to get time up and go talk to the idiot wizards who are in charge."

"Kay, Nii-san."

"Stay out of trouble while I'm gone, ok, Mokuba?" Seto fixed a look at Mokuba. Mokuba quickly nodded and Seto nodded back. Then he left the room.

Well, no more interfereing, Mokuba vowed.

xXx

Then, about a week before the exams were due to start, Mokuba's new resolution not to interfere in anything that didn't concern him was put to an unexpected test. Walking back from the library on his own one afternoon, he heard somebody whimpering from a classroom up ahead. As he drew closer, he heard Quirrell's voice.

"No - no - not again, please-"

It sounded as though someone was threatening him. Mokuba moved closer.

"All right - all right - " he heard Quirrell sob.

Next second, Quirrell came hurrying out of the classroom straightening his turban. He was pale and looked as though he was about to cry. He strode out of sight; Mokuba didn't think Quirrell had even noticed him. He waited until Quirrell's footsteps had disappeared, then peered into the classroom. It was empty, but a door stood ajar at the other end. Mokuba was halfway toward it before he remembered what he'd promised himself about not meddling.

All the same, he'd have gambled twelve Sorcerer's Stones that Snape had just left the room, and from what Mokuba had just heard, Snape would be walking with a new spring in his step - Quirrell seemed to have given in at last.

Mokuba went back to the library, where Hermione was testing Ron on Astronomy, and Draco was reading. Mokuba told them what he'd heard.

"Snape's done it, then!" said Ron. "If Quirrell's told him how to break his Anti-Dark Force spell-"

"There's still Fluffy, though," said Hermione.

"Maybe Snape's found out how to get past him without asking Hagrid," said Ron, looking up at the thousands of books surrounding them. "I bet there's a book somewhere in here telling you how to get past a giant three-headed dog. So what do we do, Mokuba?"

The light of adventure was kindling again in Ron's eyes, but Hermione answered before Mokuba could.

"Go to Dumbledore. That's what we should have done ages ago. If we try anything ourselves we'll be thrown out for sure."

"But we've got no proof!" said Mokuba. "Quirrell's too scared to back us up. Snape's only got to say he doesn't know how the troll got in at Halloween and that he was nowhere near the third floor - who do you think they'll believe, him or us? It's not exactly a secret we hate him, Dumbledore'll think we made it up to get him sacked. Filch wouldn't help us if his life depended on it, he's too friendly with Snape, and the more students get thrown out, the better, he'll think. And don't forget, we're not supposed to know about the Stone or Fluffy. That'll take a lot of explaining."

Hermione looked convinced, but Ron didn't.

"If we just do a bit of poking around-"

"No," said Mokuba flatly, "we've done enough poking around."

He pulled a map of Jupiter toward him and started to learn the names of its moons.

xXx

"So, where's your brother?" Hermione asked, looking around the brothers's room.

"Ministry. He's trying to get them off his back about Kisara." Mokuba said, taking another bite of a chocolate frog. Hermione nodded.

"So," Draco started. "On Halloween, what did you do to distract the troll?"

"Oh," Mokuba swallowed. "There's a game, in Japan, and its very popular. It's called Duel Monsters."

"Ya, you mentioned it on the train," Ron sais. "And at Christmas, though you kept getting distracted before you could explain it."

Mokuba grinned and grabbed his deck from his trunk. He had forgotten, hadn't he? Well, now he can explain it to everyone! "I'll explain it now! Each player uses a custom-made deck containing 40 to 60 cards," He began to shuffle his deck as he talked. "as well as an optional "Extra Deck" of up to 15 cards that are used in certain situations, though I myself don't have one. There is also a 15 card "Side deck," which allows players to modify their deck between games. Players are restricted to three copies of any one card per deck and side deck. Each player starts with 2000, 4000 or 8000 "Life Points", as agreed by the players or set by the tournament rules, and the usual win condition is the reduction of the opponent's Life Points to zero. This is typically achieved by using one's "monster" cards to attack the opponent's monster cards and/or inflict damage to his or her life points. The other two card types are "spells" and "traps", which have a nearly endless variety of functions. For example, these cards' effects may eliminate an opponent's card, counter the effects of an opponent's card, or retrieve a specific card from one's own deck, to name just a few. Most monster cards also have extra abilities of their own," He looked at his friends as he paused. They... were looking athim like he was insane. He blinked. "What?"

"Man," Ron said. "You talked faster then Hermione!"

"Ya, I didn't think that was possible!" Draco added, causing both boys to be hit over the head by said girl.

"Shut up!" She stated before turning back to Mokuba. "Ok, even I didn't get any of that, and I, at least, known about the game before coming to school!"

"Sorry," Mokuba grinned sheepishly. He hadn't meant to talk that fast. He was just used to talking about this with his brother and everyone else in Japan. He then got an idea. "Wait a minute!" he grabbed his duel disk from his trunk. "Maybe it will be easier if I use visuals!" He grinned but it faded as Hermione shook her head.

"No. Don't you remember, Mokuba?" Hermione pointed to the duel disk. "Technology doesn't work in Hogwarts."

Oh right. He had forgot. It has been driving Seto mad and the brunette had been charming all of the technology they had brought with them, which included their duel disks and Seto's laptop, but nothing had worked. They did however find a hologram spell, though it can only be used on one card at a time and its prety hard to do. It was just spur of the moment that he could do it on Halloween. He sat the duel disk down on the table in front of them and pulled out his wand.

"How about I just use that spell I used on the troll." He said, picking a nonfreighting card from his deck. No need to scare them just yet, after all. He put the card on the table beside the duel disk and held out his wand.

"Donec Vitae Moli," He said. His wand glowed and his friends leaned in, expectly. The card glowed but didn't do much else. Mokuba blinked in confusen and looked at his wand. "Did it not work? The card glowed..." He put his wand down and grabbed th card, everyone else still leaning in to see the card, at least.

"Did you say it right?" Ron asked. Mokuba nodded, looking over the card from front to back, eyebrows forrowed. Why wasn't it working?

"What about the wand mom-" Draco was cut off by the the duel disk glowing. Their heads shot to the disk, now even more confused. But before anyone could say anything, a bright light englufed them. Mokuba dropped the card and his hands flew up to his face to sheild his eyes from the light. He faintly heard Ron yell, "What the hell?!"

When the light dimmed, Mokuba opened his eyes and put his arms down. He quickly looked around the best he could, as it was alot darker then it was in his room. 'Am I in the forest?' he thought, confused. How did he get here? Was it the light? He was just in his room with the others-

'The others!' Mokuba quickly looked around for them and found them a little ways off. Luckily, they were in one of the few patches of moonlight, so he could see them. Hermione looked up and saw him. She looked worried.

"Mokuba!" She ran over and th other two followed when they saw why she was running. "Do you know what just happened?!"

Mokuba looked around again. "No, I don't. That spell shouldn't of done that at all..."

Ron frowned. "That thing you had with you on the table-"

"Duel Disk."

"-It glowed too." The redhead went on, ignoring Mokuba's interjection. "Do you think that has anything to do with it?"

Mokuba just shrugged and Hermione looked like she was about to say something when Draco cut her off. "I-is that... Unicorn blood?!"

They all jumped at the blond's shout and turned towards him. He was standing in shock, pointing to a sliver puddle. Ron blinked.

"Unicorn blood? Is a unicorn hurt or something? I didn't even know we HAD unicorns in the Forbidden Forest..."

"What was able to hurt a unicorn...?" Hermione whimpered. "They are really strong fighters and I don't think there's anything that's in the forest that can hurt them..."

Mokuba sighed and tried to find a hint of how far they were in the forest or which way they should go. He found nothing and just turned back to the others. "Well, I say we just pick a direction and start walking." The others looked at the unicorn blood one more time and nodded.

The forest was black and silent. A little ways ahead they reached a fork in the earth path they picked, and they took the right. They walked in silence, their eyes on the ground. Every now and then a ray of moonlight through the branches above lit a spot of silver-blue blood on the fallen leaves.

They walked for nearly half an hour until the path became almost impossible to follow because the trees were so thick. Mokuba thought the blood seemed to be getting thicker. There were splashes on the roots of a tree, as though the poor creature had been thrashing around in pain close by. Mokuba could see a clearing ahead, through the tangled branches of an ancient oak.

"Look - " he murmured, holding out his arm to stop the others.

Something bright white was gleaming on the ground. They inched closer.

It was the unicorn all right, and it was dead. Mokuba had never seen anything so beautiful and sad. Its long, slender legs were stuck out at odd angles where it had fallen and its mane was spread pearly-white on the dark leaves.

Mokuba had taken one step toward it when a slithering sound made him freeze where he stood. A bush on the edge of the clearing quivered... Then, out of the shadows, a hooded figure came crawling across the ground like some stalking beast. The four stood transfixed. The cloaked figure reached the unicorn, lowered its head over the wound in the animal's side, and began to drink its blood.

"AAAAAAAAAARGH!"

Ron let out a terrible scream and bolted - probably expecting the others to follow. The hooded figure raised its head and looked right at Mokuba - unicorn blood was dribbling down its front. It got to its feet and came swiftly toward Mokuba - he couldn't move for fear.

He willed his legs to move. Ron was gone and needed to move! But then he fell backwards and hit his head on the ground. The pain in Mokuba's head was so bad he couldn't get up. It took a minute or two to pass. When he looked up, the figure had gone. He looked around. What had caused him to fall like that? His gaze landed on a sheepish Hermione.

"Sorry, but if you didn't move, that creature would of hurt you!" Hermione said, blushing. Draco was looking at the dead unicorn.

"Mokuba, Hemione, do you know what unicorn blood is used for?" The blond asked.

"No," said Mokuba, startled by the odd question. "We've only used the horn and tail hair in Potions."

"That's because it is terrible to slay a unicorn," Hermoine chimed in. "Nobody should do it and the only ones who do are the ones who have nothing to lose, and everything to gain. The blood of a unicorn will keep you alive, even if you are an inch from death, but you will have only a cursed life, from the moment the blood touches your lips. It warns against it in every book that talks about unicorns,"

Mokuba stared at Draco and Hermione, both of which were trying to find the path again. It was obvious that they went farther in the forest as opposed to out.

"But who'd be that desperate?" he wondered aloud. "If you're going to be cursed forever, death's better, isn't it?"

"It is," Draco agreed, "unless all you need is to stay alive long enough to drink something else - something that will bring you back to full strength and power."

"The Sorcerer's Stone! Of course - the Elixir of Life! But I don't understand who-"

"What about You-Know-Who?" Hermione looked at Mokuba.

It was as though an iron fist had clenched suddenly around Mokuba's heart. Over the rustling of the trees, he seemed to hear once more what Hagrid had told him once, on one of his visits: "Some say he died. Codswallop, in my opinion. Dunno if he had enough human left in him to die."

"Do you mean," Mokuba croaked, "that was Vol-"

"Mokuba! Hermione! Draco! Are you all right? I found the way out!"

Ron was running toward them down the path, Hagrid puffing along behind him.

"I'm fine," said Mokuba, hardly knowing what he was saying. "There's a unicorn dead, Hagrid, it's in that clearing back there."

How was he going to explain this to Seto?

xXx

Mokuba couldn't sit down. He paced up and down in front of the fire in his room. He was still shaking. After Ron had found a way out and realized they hadn't followed him, he started to pound on Hagrids and convinced him, that YES, they were in the forest. Luckily, they also conviced Hagrid to help them out and NOT tell any teachers.

"Snape wants the stone for Voldemort... and Voldemort's waiting in the forest... and all this time we thought Snape just wanted to get rich..."

"Stop saying the name!" said Ron in a terrified whisper, as if he thought Voldemort could hear them.

Mokuba wasn't listening.

"So all I've got to wait for now is Snape to steal the Stone," Mokuba went on feverishly, "then Voldemort will be able to come and finish me off..."

Hermione looked very frightened, but she had a word of comfort.

"Mokuba, everyone says Dumbledore's the only one You-Know-Who was ever afraid of with Dumbledore around, You-Know-Who won't touch you."

"Dang it!" Draco said. "We missed curfew! We're going to have to stay here for the night." Mokuba just nodded distractly. Draco blinked. "Hey, do you guys have the feeling that that us being in the woods was planned by something higher then us just so we could see that thing?"

The others looked at him like he was crazy.

_**Thanks again for all the reviews! keep them long! and thanks for pointing out plotholes and don't hesitate to do it again in the future! Ok, in order of the review...**_

Ch.5 "Did you see his scar?"

I thought the scar vanished after Duelist Kingdom. Wouldn't there be more remarks about its absence?

_**Mokuba's bangs cover his forehead and everybody assumed he had it. **_

Ch.7 "Merry Christmas," said Ron sleepily as Mokuba scrambled out of bed and pulled on his bathrobe.

I thought Mokuba slept in Seto's room unless he stayed too long in the Gryffindor common room and couldn't make it there without breaking curfew. Why is he sleeping in the dorm with Ron this time?

**_I'm sorry I didn't explain this one in the chapter... I tend to do that sometimes, not explain something so it only makes sense to me. See, its Christmas and Seto had work to do so Mokuba stayed with Ron in the dorm. Japanese are bigger with New Years anyway._**

Ch.8 "In fact, he won't get much bigger then this, really."

... seems inconsistent with Seto's *14-inch-long* pine wand having a heartstring from this dragon species as a core. Was the one found in Egypt that provided said heartstring unusually large? Or is little Kisara a dwarf variant? How could little Kisara's mother even lay an egg big enough if the species doesn't get much larger? Or did Hagrid just mean she won't get much larger soon enough to be a problem?

_**ah. When I wrote the wand scene, I hadn't thought this far ahead. 14 inches was a random length. So just assume that...**_

_**The Howaito Doragon is a special species that are normally a normal size dragon but every once and a while, there is a dwarf size baby. Hagrid knew that Kisara was on of these because if she wasn't, she would be bigger by the time she hatched. Hows that?**_

_**As for Mokuba's piece of Voldy's soul, my thoughts were that the soul was stuck to the scar, as it was given to Harry by way of dark magic in the first place, and when Mokuba's soul got taken, it just stuck better to the shadow realm...**_

_**And I'm sorry for coping so much from canon, but its the first year and so much of it is Mokuba adjusting and at some points its just description or i see no reason why it shouldn't go like it went in the books. Don't worry though! Once we get to Second Year, I won't go so much from canon~!**_


	10. Chapter 10

Seto has been back and forth to the ministry and he never learned of the group's litle advanture. Which was lucky, as the brunette talked to Hagrid about dragons and Kisara often. As far as the group could tell, the hologram spell reacted with the charms Seto had placed on the duel disk and transported them to the Forbbinden Forest. Mokuba pushed the duel disk to the back of his trunk because if that happened with the harmless hologram spell, he did want to see the reaction to a more powerful spell.

But that's not what was really bothering Mokuba right now. He had a really bad feeling, though about what he did not know. Maybe it was just the thought of Voldemort in th castle, or that he had enough dealing with dark magic to know that something big was coming. On a similer note, maybe it was because Mokuba had been kidnapped enough times to be paraniod, but Ron, Draco, and Hermione didn't seem as worried about the Stone as Mokuba. The idea of Voldemort certainly scared them, but they were so busy with their studying they didn't have much time to fret about what Snape or anyone else might be up to.

"That was far easier than I thought it would be," said Hermione as they joined the crowds flocking out onto the sunny grounds. "I needn't have learned about the 1637 Werewolf Code of Conduct or the uprising of Elfric the Eager." Draco looked at her funny.

"Hermione, even I didn't go that far!" This comment cause Mokuba and Ron to start laughing and then all three boys got hit by an angry brunette.

"I wish I knew what this means!" Mokuba suddenly burst out angrily, startling the others. "This bad feeling I have - it's happened before, but its only this bad when I was about to get kidnapped." He saw his statement made them confused but they knew enough not to push it. "I think it's a warning... it means danger's coming..."

"Mokuba, relax, the smarties over here," At this Ron pointed to Hermione and Draco, both of which glared. "are right, the Stone's safe as long as Dumbledore's around. Anyway, we've never had any proof Snape found out how to get past Fluffy. Neville will play Quidditch for England before Hagrid lets Dumbledore down."

Mokuba nodded. Hagrid would never tell anyone how to get past Fluffy... never... but...

Mokuba suddenly jumped to his feet.

"Where're you going?" said Ron sleepily.

"I've just thought of something," said Mokuba. He had turned white. "We've got to go and see Hagrid, now."

"Why?" panted Draco, hurrying to keep up.

"Don't you think it's a bit odd," said Mokuba, scrambling up the grassy slope, "that what Hagrid wants more than anything else is a dragon, and a stranger turns up who just happens to have an egg in his pocket? How many people wander around with dragon eggs if it's against wizard law? Lucky they found Hagrid, don't you think? Why didn't I see it before?"

"What are you talking about?" said Ron, but Mokuba, sprinting across the grounds toward the forest, didn't answer.

Hagrid was sitting in an armchair outside his house.

"Hullo," he said, smiling. "Finished yer exams? Got time fer a drink?"

"No, we're in a hurry. Hagrid, I've got to ask you something. You know that night you won Kisara? What did the stranger you were playing cards with look like?"

"Dunno," said Hagrid casually, "he wouldn' take his cloak off."

He saw the three of them look stunned and raised his eyebrows.

"It's not that unusual, yeh get a lot o' funny folk in the Hog's Head - that's the pub down in the village. Mighta bin a dragon dealer, mightn' he? I never saw his face, he kept his hood up."

Mokuba sank down next to him. "What did you talk to him about, Hagrid? Did you mention Hogwarts at all?"

"Mighta come up," said Hagrid, frowning as he tried to remember. "Yeah... he asked what I did, an' I told him I was gamekeeper here... He asked a bit about the sorta creatures I took after... so I told him... an' I said what I'd always really wanted was a dragon... an' then... I can' remember too well, 'cause he kept buyin' me drinks... Let's see... yeah, then he said he had the dragon egg an' we could play cards fer it if I wanted... but he had ter be sure I could handle it, he didn' want it ter go ter any old home... So I told him, after Fluffy, a dragon would be easy..."

"And did he - did he seem interested in Fluffy?" Mokuba asked, trying to keep his voice calm.

"Well - yeah - how many three-headed dogs d'yeh meet, even around Hogwarts? So I told him, Fluffy's a piece o' cake if yeh know how to calm him down, jus' play him a bit o' music an' he'll go straight off ter sleep-"

Hagrid suddenly looked horrified.

"I shouldn'ta told yeh that!" he blurted out. "Forget I said it! Hey - where're yeh goin'?"

Mokuba, Ron, Draco, and Hermione didn't speak to each other at all until they came to a halt in the entrance hall. "We've got to go to Dumbledore," said Mokuba. "Hagrid told that stranger how to get past Fluffy, and it was either Snape or Voldemort under that cloak - it must've been easy, once he'd got Hagrid drunk. I just hope Dumbledore believes us. Where's Dumbledore's office?"

They looked around, as if hoping to see a sign pointing them in the right direction. They had never been told where Dumbledore lived, nor did they know anyone who had been sent to see him.

"We'll just have to - " Mokuba began, but a voice suddenly rang across the hall.

"What are you three doing inside?"

It was Professor McGonagall, carrying a large pile of books.

"We want to see Professor Dumbledore," said Hermione, rather bravely, Mokuba and Ron thought.

"See Professor Dumbledore?" Professor McGonagall repeated, as though this was a very fishy thing to want to do. "Professor Dumbledore left ten minutes ago," she said coldly. "He received an urgent owl from the Ministry of Magic and flew off for London at once."

"Look," said Mokuba, throwing caution to the winds, "Professor - it's about the Sorcerer's Stone-"

Whatever Professor McGonagall had expected, it wasn't that. The books she was carrying tumbled out of her arms, but she didn't pick them up.

"How do you know - ?" she spluttered.

"Professor, I think - I know - that Sn - that someone's going to try and steal the Stone. I've got to talk to Professor Dumbledore."

She eyed him with a mixture of shock and suspicion.

"Professor Dumbledore will be back tomorrow," she said finally. "I don't know how you found out about the Stone, but rest assured, no one can possibly steal it, it's too well protected."

"But Professor-"

"Kaiba, I know what I'm talking about," she said shortly. She bent down and gathered up the fallen books. I suggest you all go back outside and enjoy the sunshine."

But they didn't. Mokuba stared in shock. She didn't belive them. She didn't freaking belive them! Why hadn't it crossed her mind that if a group of first years could figure it out, no one else could?!

"It's tonight," said Mokuba, once he was sure Professor McGonagall was out of earshot. "Snape's going through the trapdoor tonight. He's found out everything he needs, and now he's got Dumbledore out of the way. He sent that note, I bet the Ministry of Magic will get a real shock when Dumbledore turns up. Right, here's what we've got to do," he dropped his voice urgently. "We're go hang out in the Gryffindore Common room until tonight. Draco, go hang out in the Slytherin Common room so no one gets to thinking. We'll come get you later tonight."

The others nodded and Hermione, Mokuba, and Ron went back to the common room.

"I'll use the invisibility cloak," said Mokuba said later that night.

"But will it cover all four of us?" said Ron.

"I hope so." Mokuba looked at them. "Are you sure you want to help? If we get caught, you two will be expelled, too."

"Not if I can help it," said Hermione grimly. "Flitwick told me in secret that I got a hundred and twelve percent on his exam. They're not throwing me out after that."

They waited until the room was empty and, slowly, the room emptied as people drifted off to bed.

"Better get the cloak," Ron muttered, as Lee Jordan finally left, stretching and yawning. Mokuba ran upstairs to their dark dormitory. He pulled out the cloak and then his eyes fell on the flute Hagrid had given him for Christmas. He pocketed it to use on Fluffy - he didn't feel much like singing.

He ran back down to the common room.

"We'd better put the cloak on here, and make sure it covers all three of us - if Filch spots one of our feet wandering along on its own- and we need to get Draco-"

"What are you doing?" said a voice from the corner of the room. Neville appeared from behind an armchair.

"Nothing, Neville, nothing," said Mokuba, hurriedly putting the cloak behind his back.

Neville stared at their guilty faces.

"You're going out again," he said.

"No, no, no," said Hermione. "No, we're not. Why don't you go to bed, Neville?"

Mokuba looked at the grandfather clock by the door. They couldn't afford to waste any more time, Snape might even now be playing Fluffy to sleep, and they still needed to get Draco.

"You can't go out," said Neville, "you'll be caught again. Gryffindor will be in even more trouble."

"You don't understand," said Mokuba, "this is important."

But Neville was clearly steeling himself to do something desperate.

"I won't let you do it," he said, hurrying to stand in front of the portrait hole. "I'll - I'll fight you!"

"Neville, "Ron exploded, "get away from that hole and don't be an idiot-"

"Don't you call me an idiot!" said Neville. "I don't think you should be breaking any more rules! And you were the one who told me to stand up to people!"

"Yes, but not to us," said Ron in exasperation. "Neville, you don't know what you're doing."

He took a step forward and Neville stepped backward.

"Go on then, try and hit me!" said Neville, raising his fists. "I'm ready!"

Mokuba turned to Hermione.

"Do something," he said desperately.

Hermione stepped forward.

"Neville," she said, "I'm really, really sorry about this."

She raised her wand.

"Petrificus Totalus!" she cried, pointing it at Neville.

Neville fell down not able to move. "What've you done to him?" Mokuba whispered.

"It's the full Body-Bind," said Hermione miserably. "Oh, Neville, I'm so sorry."

"We had to, Neville, no time to explain," said Mokuba.

"You'll understand later, Neville," said Ron as they stepped over him and pulled on the invisibility cloak. "You do know where the Slytherin common room is right?"

"Of course!" Mokuba said. "I do have the choice of hanging out in there. It just the glares don't make me feel welcome..."

The entrance to the common room is located behind a stone wall in the dungeons of Hogwarts Castle. Once they got there, they were shocked that Draco wasn't there. Mokuba came out from under the cloak and looked around to make sure Hermione and Ron couldn't be seen. Once he was sure, he turned back to the wall.

"Purum sanguinem!" He called out, and then ran inside. He faintly heard the footsteps of Ron and Hermione behind him. The Slytherin common room was a long, low underground room with rough stone walls and ceiling from which round, greenish lamps were hanging on chains. A fire was crackling under an elaborately carved mantelpiece ahead of them, and several Slytherins were silhouetted in front of it, with Nott and Blaise standing in the very front. Mokuba came to a stop and felt Ron and Hermione bump into him. Luckily, the cloak didn't come off. On the other side of the room, even more Slytherins were standing behind Draco.

Of course, Nott was the one to notice him first. He glared. "Kaiba! What are you doing here?!"

Mokuba straighted up and glared right back. He was a Kaiba and he was going to act like it! "I am a Slytherin, you know. I'm allowed to be in here."

"Then why haven't you been here before?" Pansy sneered. It didn't do anything to help her hard-face.

"Because glares don't really make me feel welcome." Mokuba smirked and turned to Draco. "Are you coming or not?" Draco glanced at him then back to Nott and his friends before slowly nodding. He quickly walked over and the two boys, plus the two students under the cloak, exited the room. Once they were out, Mokuab turned back to Draco. "What was that about?"

Draco sighed. "Well, if there is one thing that has happened since you got here, its that the Slytherin House has been split." They quickly went under the cloak. "Part of the house is mad that you got a duel sorting and that I'm friends with you. My father was in You-know-who's inner circle, and I was going to be the leader of that part of the house."

Ron chimed in in under standing as they walked. "And since Mokuba is the one who defeated him, and you're friends with him, the Slytherins are turning against you!"

Draco nodded. "Ya, pretty much, though not all of them. The other half of the house are what they like to call, 'True Slytherins'. They just belive that we should ge along with anyone who has magic, including Muggleborns. I ended up leading that part of the house."  
Draco opened his mouth to say more but Hermione shushed him. They had reached the staircase up to the third floor and Peeves was bobbing halfway up, loosening the carpet so that people would trip.

"Who's there?" he said suddenly as they climbed toward him. He narrowed his wicked black eyes. "Know you're there, even if I can't see you. Are you ghoulie or ghostie or wee student beastie?"

He rose up in the air and floated there, squinting at them.

"Should call Filch, I should, if something's a-creeping around unseen."

Mokuba had a sudden idea.

"Peeves," he said, in a hoarse whisper, "the Bloody Baron has his own reasons for being invisible."

Peeves almost fell out of the air in shock. He caught himself in time and hovered about a foot off the stairs.

"So sorry, your bloodiness, Mr. Baron, Sir," he said greasily. "My mistake, my mistake - I didn't see you - of course I didn't, you're invisible - forgive old Peevsie his little joke, sir."

"I have business here, Peeves," croaked Mokuba. "Stay away from this place tonight."

"I will, sir, I most certainly will," said Peeves, rising up in the air again. "Hope your business goes well, Baron, I'll not bother you."

And he scooted off.

"Brilliant, Mokuba!" whispered Ron and Draco in unison.

A few seconds later, they were there, outside the third-floor corridor - and the door was already ajar.

"Well, there you are," Mokuba said quietly, "Snape's already got past Fluffy."

Underneath the cloak, Mokuba turned to the other three.

"If you want to go back, I won't blame you," he said. "You can take the cloak, I won't need it now."

"Don't be stupid," said Ron.

"We're coming," said Hermione.

"I am not going back to that battle-to-be until tomorrow if I can help it!" Draco hissed.

Mokuba pushed the door open.

"What's that at its feet?" Hermione whispered.

"Looks like a harp," said Ron. "Snape must have left it there."

Draco cocked his head. "Since when does Snape uses a harpe?" He was ignored.

"It must wake up the moment you stop playing," said Mokuba. "Well, here goes..."

He put Hagrid's flute to his lips and blew. It wasn't really a tune, but from the first note the beast's eyes began to droop. Mokuba hardly drew breath. Slowly, the dog's growls ceased - it tottered on its paws and fell to its knees, then it slumped to the ground, fast asleep.

"Keep playing," Ron warned Mokuba as they slipped out of the cloak and crept toward the trapdoor. He bent and pulled the ring of the trapdoor, which swung up and open.

"What can you see?" Hermione said anxiously.

"Nothing - just black - there's no way of climbing down, we'll just have to drop."

Mokuba, who was still playing the flute, waved at Ron to get his attention and pointed at himself.

"You want to go first? Are you sure?" said Ron. "I don't know how deep this thing goes. Give the flute to Hermione so she can keep him asleep."

Mokuba handed the flute over. In the few seconds' silence, the dog growled and twitched, but the moment Hermione began to play, it fell back into its deep sleep.

Mokuba climbed over it and looked down through the trapdoor. There was no sign of the bottom.

He lowered himself through the hole until he was hanging on by his fingertips. Then he looked up at Ron and said, "If anything happens to me, don't follow. Go straight to the owlery and send Hedwig to Dumbledore, right?"

"Right," said Ron.

"See you in a minute, I hope..."

And Mokuba let go. Cold, damp air rushed past him as he fell down, down, down and -

FLUMP. With a funny, muffled sort of thump he landed on something soft. He sat up and felt around, his eyes not used to the gloom. It felt as though he was sitting on some sort of plant.

"It's okay!" he called up to the light the size of a postage stamp, which was the open trapdoor, "it's a soft landing, you can jump!"

Of course, their luck couldn't be that good. What they landed in was Devil Snare and only Hermione figured it out before and got away before it could trap her as it did with the boys.

"It hates light!" Hermione yelled out. "I need to start a fire... but there's no wood!"

"HERMIONE! YOU'RE A WITCH!" Draco yelled. Hermione blushed and did the spell for fire.

"This way," said Mokuba, now that they were out of the plant, pointing down a stone passageway, which was the only way forward.

All they could hear apart from their footsteps was the gentle drip of water trickling down the walls.

"Can you hear something?" Ron whispered.

Mokuba listened. A soft rustling and clinking seemed to be coming from up ahead.

"Do you think it's a ghost?"

"I don't know... sounds like wings to me."

"There's light ahead - I can see something moving."

They reached the end of the passageway and saw before them a brilliantly lit chamber, its ceiling arching high above them. It was full of small, jewel-bright birds, fluttering and tumbling all around the room. On the opposite side of the chamber was a heavy wooden door. They reached the door. Ron pulled the handle, but it was locked. They tugged and heaved at the door, but it wouldn't budge, not even when Hermione tried her Alohomora charm.

"Now what?" said Ron.

"These birds... they can't be here just for decoration," said Hermione.

"They're not birds!" Mokuba said suddenly. "They're keys! Winged keys - look carefully. So that must mean... " he looked around the chamber while the other two squinted up at the flock of keys. "... yes - look! Broomsticks! We've got to catch the key to the door!"

"But there are hundreds of them!"

Draco examined the lock on the door.

"We're looking for a big, old-fashioned one - probably silver, like the handle."

"Who is going to try?" Mokuba asked. "I haven't really flown outside of class."

Ron shook his head. "I'm a terrible Seeker. I'm a better Chaser."

"I'm not that great on a broom period, really." Hermione commented.

Draco looked at each of them. He then turned to the brooms. "I'm a Seeker when I played at home. I'l try." And with that, Draco grabbed a broom and kicked off. After a minute's weaving about through the whirl of rainbow feathers, he noticed and caught the right key. Mokuba, Ron, and Hermione's cheers echoed around the high chamber. Draco landed and he rammed it into the lock and turned - it worked. The moment the lock had clicked open, the key took flight again, looking very battered now that it had been caught twice.

"Ready?" Mokuba asked the other two, his hand on the door handle. They nodded. He pulled the door open.

The next chamber was so dark they couldn't see anything at all. But as they stepped into it, light suddenly flooded the room to reveal an astonishing sight.

They were standing on the edge of a huge chessboard, behind the black chessmen, which were all taller than they were and carved from what looked like black stone. Facing them, way across the chamber, were the white pieces. Mokuba, Ron and Hermione shivered slightly - the towering white chessmen had no faces.

They had to play their way across. Draco and Hermione, both being rubbish at chess, just let Mokuba and Ron take the lead. Their first real shock came when their other knight was taken. The white queen smashed him to the floor and dragged him off the board, where he lay quite still, facedown.

"Had to let that happen," said Ron, looking shaken. Mokuba nodded, white faced. "Leaves you free to take that bishop, Hermione, go on."

Every time one of their men was lost, the white pieces showed no mercy. Soon there was a huddle of limp black players slumped along the wall. Twice, Ron only just noticed in time that one of the others was in danger. Once, only Mokuba noticed. They themselves darted around the board, taking almost as many white pieces as they had lost black ones.

"We're nearly there," Ron muttered suddenly. "Let me think - let me think..."

The white queen turned her blank face toward him.

"Yes... " said Ron softly, "It's the only way... I've got to be taken."

"NO!" The others shouted.

"That's chess!" snapped Ron. "You've got to make some sacrifices! I take one step forward and she'll take me - that leaves you free to checkmate the king, Mokuba!"

"But-"

"Do you want to stop Snape or not?"

"Ron-"

"Look, if you don't hurry up, he'll already have the Stone!"

There was no alternative.

"Ready?" Ron called, his face pale but determined. "Here I go - now, don't hang around once you've won."

He stepped forward, and the white queen pounced. She struck Ron hard across the head with her stone arm, and he crashed to the floor - Hermione screamed but stayed on her square - the white queen dragged Ron to one side. He looked as if he'd been knocked out.

Shaking, Mokuba moved three spaces to the left.

The white king took off his crown and threw it at Mokuba's feet. They had won. The chessmen parted and bowed, leaving the door ahead clear. Draco, being the closest, ran over to Ron.

"He's ok. Just knocked out." He said. They sighed in relief. Draco turned to them. "I'm going to stay with him. You two go ahead."

They nodded, and with one last desperate look back at Ron and Draco, Mokuba and Hermione charged through the door and up the next passageway.

"What if he's - ?"

"He'll be all right," said Mokuba, trying to convince himself. "What do you reckon's next?"

"We've had Sprout's, that was the Devil's Snare; Flitwick must've put charms on the keys; McGonagall transfigured the chessmen to make them alive; that leaves Quirrell's spell, and Snape's."

They had reached another door.

"All right?" Mokuba whispered.

"Go on."

Mokuba pushed it open.

A disgusting smell filled their nostrils, making both of them pull their robes up over their noses. It was a troll, and it was knocked out.

"I'm glad we didn't have to fight that one," Mokuba whispered as they stepped carefully over one of its massive legs. "Come on, I can't breathe."

He pulled open the next door, both of them hardly daring to look at what came next - but there was nothing very frightening in here, just a table with seven differently shaped bottles standing on it in a line.

"Snape's," said Mokuba. "What do we have to do?"

They stepped over the threshold, and immediately a fire sprang up behind them in the doorway. It wasn't ordinary fire either; it was purple. At the same instant, black flames shot up in the doorway leading onward. They were trapped.

"Look!" Hermione seized a roll of paper lying next to the bottles. Mokuba looked over her shoulder to read it:

**_Danger lies before you, while safety lies behind,_**

**_Two of us will help you, which ever you would find,_**

**_One among us seven will let you move ahead,_**

**_Another will transport the drinker back instead,_**

**_Two among our number hold only nettle wine,_**

**_Three of us are killers, waiting bidden in line._**

**_Choose, unless you wish to stay here forevermore,_**

**_To help you in your choice, we give you these clues four:_**

**_First, however slyly the poison tries to hide_**

**_You will always find some on nettle wine's left side;_**

**_Second, different are those who stand at either end,_**

**_But if you would move onward, neither is your friend;_**

**_Third, as you see clearly, all are different size,_**

**_Neither dwarf nor giant holds death in their insides;_**

**_Fourth, the second left and the second on the right_**

**_Are twins once you taste them, though different at first sight._**

Hermione let out a great sigh and Mokuba, amazed, saw that she was smiling, the very last thing he felt like doing.

"Brilliant," said Hermione. "This isn't magic - it's logic - a puzzle. A lot of the greatest wizards haven't got an ounce of logic, they'd be stuck in here forever."

"But so will we, won't we?"

"Of course not," said Hermione. "Everything we need is here on this paper. Seven bottles: three are poison; two are wine; one will get us safely through the black fire, and one will get us back through the purple."

"But how do we know which to drink?"

"Give me a minute."

Hermione read the paper several times. Then she walked up and down the line of bottles, muttering to herself and pointing at them. At last, she clapped her hands.

"Got it," she said. "The smallest bottle will get us through the black fire - toward the Stone."

Mokuba looked at the tiny bottle.

"There's only enough there for one of us," he said. "That's hardly one swallow."

They looked at each other.

"Which one will get you back through the purple flames?"

Hermione pointed at a rounded bottle at the right end of the line.

"You drink that," said Mokuba. "No, listen, get back and get Ron and Draco. Grab brooms from the flying-key room, they'll get you out of the trapdoor and past Fluffy - go straight to the owlery and send Seto's owl to Dumbledore, we need him. I might be able to hold Snape off for a while, but I'm no match for him, really."

"But Mokuba - what if You-Know-Who's with him?"

"Well - I am very lucky..." said Mokuba, laughing nervously. "I've been in trouble like this enough times."

Hermione's lip trembled, and she suddenly dashed at Mokuba and threw her arms around him.

"Hermione!"

"Mokuba - you're a great wizard, you know. You're better then Harry Potter!"

"I'm not as good as you," said Mokuba, very embarrassed, as she let go of him.

"Me!" said Hermione. "Books! And cleverness! There are more important things - friendship and bravery and - oh Mokuba - be careful!"

"You drink first," said Mokuba. "You are sure which is which, aren't you?"

"Positive," said Hermione. She took a long drink from the round bottle at the end, and shuddered.

"It's not poison?" said Mokuba anxiously.

"No - but it's like ice."

"Quick, go, before it wears off."

"Good luck - take care."

"GO!"

Hermione turned and walked straight through the purple fire.

Mokuba took a deep breath and picked up the smallest bottle. He turned to face the black flames.

"Here I come," he said, and he drained the little bottle in one gulp.

It was indeed as though ice was flooding his body. He put the bottle down and walked forward; he braced himself, saw the black flames licking his body, but couldn't feel them - for a moment he could see nothing but dark fire - then he was on the other side, in the last chamber.

There was already someone there - but it wasn't Snape. It wasn't even Voldemort.

And he had someone with him.

_**I tried to summerise the best I could, but somethings just didn't make sense if I didn't include it or didn't change much if I put it my own style. sorry! Only one more chapter left!**_


	11. Chapter 11

**_Two new chapters! If you haven't read the last one, go do it now!_**

**_Edit: 5/31/2013. I edited the feast scene~!_**

It was Quirrell.

And he had Seto tied up and knocked out beside him.

"You!" gasped Mokuba. "Nii-San!"

Quirrell smiled. His face wasn't twitching at all.

"Me," he said calmly. "I wondered whether I'd be meeting you here, Potter. Or should I say Kaiba? That seems to be your name now."

"But I thought - Snape- and Seto-"

"Severus?" Quirrell laughed, and it wasn't his usual quivering treble, either, but cold and sharp. "Yes, Severus does seem the type, doesn't he? So useful to have him swooping around like an overgrown bat. Next to him, who would suspect p-p-poor, st-stuttering P-Professor Quirrell? As for your brother, well, couldn't have him interfering, could I? I'll kill him after I kill you."

Mokuba couldn't take it in. This couldn't be true, it couldn't.

"But you could never beat Seto!" Mokuba yelled.

"It was quite easy to sneak up on him when he's worried about you. His dragon was also quite easy to stun. Its too fast to kill right then, and I was in a hurry."

"Kisara!"

"What a waste of time, when after all your brother has done to protect you, I'm going to kill you tonight."

Quirrell snapped his fingers. Ropes sprang out of thin air and wrapped themselves tightly around Mokuba.

"You're too nosy to live, Kaiba. Scurrying around the school on Halloween like that, for all I knew you'd seen me coming to look at what was guarding the Stone."

"You let the troll in?"

"Certainly. I have a special gift with trolls - you must have seen what I did to the one in the chamber back there? Unfortunately, while everyone else was running around looking for it, Snape, who already suspected me, went straight to the third floor to head me off - and not only did my troll fail to beat you to death, that three-headed dog didn't even manage to bite Snape's leg off properly. Now, wait quietly, Kaiba. I need to examine this interesting mirror."

It was only then that Mokuba realized what was standing behind Quirrell. It was the Mirror of Erised.

"This mirror is the key to finding the Stone," Quirrell murmured, tapping his way around the frame. "Trust Dumbledore to come up with something like this... but he's in London... I'll be far away by the time he gets back..."

All Mokuba could think of doing was to keep Quirrell talking and stop him from concentrating on the mirror.

"I saw you and Snape in the forest - " he blurted out.

"Yes," said Quirrell idly, walking around the mirror to look at the back. "He was on to me by that time, trying to find out how far I'd got. He suspected me all along. Tried to frighten me - as though he could, when I had Lord Voldemort on my side..."

Quirrell came back out from behind the mirror and stared hungrily into it.

"I see the Stone... I'm presenting it to my master... but where is it?"

Mokuba struggled against the ropes binding him, but they didn't give. He had to keep Quirrell from giving his whole attention to the mirror.

"But Snape always seemed to hate me so much."

"Oh, he does," said Quirrell casually, "heavens, yes. He was at Hogwarts with your father, didn't you know? They loathed each other. But he never wanted you dead."

"But I heard you a few days ago, sobbing - I thought Snape was threatening you..."

For the first time, a spasm of fear flitted across Quirrell's face.

"Sometimes," he said, "I find it hard to follow my master's instructions - he is a great wizard and I am weak-"

"You mean he was there in the classroom with you?" Mokuba gasped.

"He is with me wherever I go," said Quirrell quietly. "I met him when I traveled around the world. A foolish young man I was then, full of ridiculous ideas about good and evil. Lord Voldemort showed me how wrong I was. There is no good and evil, there is only power, and those too weak to seek it... Since then, I have served him faithfully, although I have let him down many times. He has had to be very hard on me." Quirrell shivered suddenly. "He does not forgive mistakes easily. When I failed to steal the stone from Gringotts, he was most displeased. He punished me... decided he would have to keep a closer watch on me..."

Quirrell's voice trailed away. Mokuba was remembering his trip to Diagon Alley - how could he have been so stupid? He'd seen Quirrell there that very day, almost shaken hands with him in the Leaky Cauldron, before Seto was able to block them off.

Quirrell cursed under his breath.

"I don't understand... is the Stone inside the mirror? Should I break it?"

Mokuba's mind was racing.

What I want more than anything else in the world at the moment, he thought, is to find the Stone before Quirrell does. So if I look in the mirror, I should see myself finding it - which means I'll see where it's hidden! But how can I look without Quirrell realizing what I'm up to?

He tried to edge to the left, to get in front of the glass without Quirrell noticing, but the ropes around his ankles were too tight: he tripped and fell over. Quirrell ignored him. He was still talking to himself.

"What does this mirror do? How does it work? Help me, Master!"

And to Mokuba's horror, a voice answered, and the voice seemed to come from Quirrell himself.

"Use the boy... Use the boy..."

Quirrell rounded on Mokuba.

"Yes - Kaiba - come here."

He clapped his hands once, and the ropes binding Mokuba fell off. Mokuba got slowly to his feet.

"Come here," Quirrell repeated. "Look in the mirror and tell me what you see."

Mokuba walked toward him.

I must lie, he thought desperately. I must look and lie about what I see, that's all.

Quirrell moved close behind him. Mokuba breathed in the funny smell that seemed to come from Quirrell's turban. He closed his eyes, stepped in front of the mirror, and opened them again.

He saw his reflection, pale and scared-looking at first. But a moment later, the reflection smiled at him. It put its hand into its pocket and pulled out a blood-red stone. It winked and put the Stone back in its pocket - and as it did so, Mokuba felt something heavy drop into his real pocket. Somehow - incredibly - he'd gotten the Stone.

"Well?" said Quirrell impatiently. "What do you see?"

Mokuba screwed up his courage.

"I see Seto with my parents," he lied. "The same thing I saw last time."

Quirrell cursed again.

"Get out of the way," he said. As Mokuba moved aside, he felt the Sorcerer's Stone against his leg. Dare he make a break for it? No, Seto was still here. How to wake him up though?

But he hadn't thought of a way before a high voice spoke, though Quirrell wasn't moving his lips.

"He lies... He lies..."

"Kaiba, come back here!" Quirrell shouted. "Tell me the truth! What did you just see?"

The high voice spoke again.

"Let me speak to him... face-to-face..."

"Master, you are not strong enough!"

"I have strength enough... for this..."

Mokuba felt as if Devil's Snare was rooting him to the spot. He couldn't move a muscle. Petrified, he watched as Quirrell reached up and began to unwrap his turban. What was going on? The turban fell away. Quirrell's head looked strangely small without it. Then he turned slowly on the spot.

Mokuba would have screamed, but he couldn't make a sound. Where there should have been a back to Quirrell's head, there was a face, the most terrible face Mokuba had ever seen. It was chalk white with glaring red eyes and slits for nostrils, like a snake.

"Harry Potter... " it whispered.

Mokuba tried to take a step backward but his legs wouldn't move. He was starting to hate that name.

"See what I have become?" the face said. "Mere shadow and vapor... I have form only when I can share another's body... but there have always been those willing to let me into their hearts and minds... Unicorn blood has strengthened me, these past weeks... you saw faithful Quirrell drinking it for me in the forest... and once I have the Elixir of Life, I will be able to create a body of my own... Now... why don't you give me that Stone in your pocket?"

So he knew. The feeling suddenly surged back into Mokuba's legs. He stumbled backward.

"Don't be a fool," snarled the face. "Better save your own life and join me... or you'll meet the same end as your parents... They died begging me for mercy..."

"LIAR!" Mokuba shouted suddenly.

Quirrell was walking backward at him, so that Voldemort could still see him. The evil face was now smiling.

"How touching... " it hissed. "I always value bravery... Yes, boy, your parents were brave... I killed your father first; and he put up a courageous fight... but your mother needn't have died... neither does your brother... she was trying to protect you... and he will die unless you do as I say... Now give me the Stone, unless you want them to have died in vain."

"NEVER!"

Mokuba sprang toward his brother, but Voldemort screamed "SEIZE HIM!" and the next second, Mokuba felt Quirrell's hand close on his neck. He reached up, trying to pry the hands off of him, but he couldn't loosen Quirrell's grip. Suddenly, Quirrell yelled out in pain and stumbled backwards. Cathcing his breath, and rubbing his throat, Mokuba looked to see what happened. He felt his face brake out into a grin. It was Kisara! She attacked Quirral, and now she was helping his brother. Seto struggled against the ropes as Kisara bit them loose. Then he looked up and saw Mokuba.

"Mokuba! Are you alright?!" Seto said, finally getting out of the ropes. Mokuba nodded and Seto ran over to him, helping him up. He then turned to Quirrell, who was just getting over the attack. Quirrell growled and leaped to attack them again. But Seto was one step a head.

"Kisara!" The small dragon blocked the attack and knocked Quirrell out. Mokuba let out the breath he didn't know he holding and looked at his brother.

"Are you ok?" Seto nodded, looking annoyed.

"I wasn't paying attention. I didn't think I would attacked in the "Safe school"," Seto rolled his eyes. "Stupid Dumbledore..." Suddenly, Seto rounded on Quirrell, who was still knocked out. Mokuba looked too, but all he saw was a black mist before he fell into blackness, down... down... down...

"Mokuba!"

xXx

Something gold was glinting just above him. He tried to catch it, but his arms were too heavy.

He blinked. It was a pair of glasses.

He blinked again. The smiling face of Albus Dumbledore swam into view above him.

"Good afternoon, Mokuba," said Dumbledore.

Mokuba stared at him. "Please call me Mr. Kaiba," He muttered out of habit. Then he remembered: "Sir! The Stone! It was Quirrell! Where's Seto?!"

"Calm yourself, dear boy, you are a little behind the times," said Dumbledore. "Quirrell does not have the Stone. And your brother is fine."

"Then who does? Sir, I-"

"Mokuba," Mokuba glared. "Mr. Kaiba, please relax, or Madam Pomfrey will have me thrown out."

Mokuba swallowed and looked around him. He realized he must be in the hospital wing. He was lying in a bed with white linen sheets, and next to him was a table piled high with what looked like half the candy shop.

"Tokens from your friends and admirers," said Dumbledore, beaming. "What happened down in the dungeons between you and Professor Quirrell is a complete secret, so, naturally, the whole school knows. I believe your friends Misters Fred and George Weasley were responsible for trying to send you a toilet seat. No doubt they thought it would amuse you. Madam Pomfrey, however, felt it might not be very hygienic, and confiscated it."

"How long have I been in here?"

"Three days. Mr. Ronald Weasley, Mr. Malfoy, and Miss Granger will be most relieved you have come round, they have been extremely worried. And your brother will be in here as soon as his final class ends. Madam Pomfrey had to kick him out when he wouldn't leave to teach."

"But sir, the Stone-"

"I see you are not to be distracted. Very well, the Stone. Professor Quirrell did not manage to take it from you. I arrived in time to prevent that, although you were doing very well on your own, I must say."

"You got there? You got Hermione's owl?"

"We must have crossed in midair. No sooner had I reached London than it became clear to me that the place I should be was the one I had just left. I arrived just in time to see Mr. Kaiba trying to wake you. Your brother has quite the glare on him..." Mokuba wished he could of seen Dumbledore subjected to Seto's worst glare. "I feared I might be too late."

"I'm... what happened to the stone?"

"As for the Stone, it has been destroyed."

"Destroyed?" said Mokuba blankly. "But your friend - Nicolas Flamel-"

"Oh, you know about Nicolas?" said Dumbledore, sounding quite delighted. "You did do the thing properly, didn't you? Well, Nicolas and I have had a little chat, and agreed it's all for the best."

"But that means he and his wife will die, won't they?"

"They have enough Elixir stored to set their affairs in order and then, yes, they will die."

Dumbledore smiled at the look of amazement on Mokuba's face.

"To one as young as you, I'm sure it seems incredible, but to Nicolas and Perenelle, it really is like going to bed after a very, very long day. After all, to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure. You know, the Stone was really not such a wonderful thing. As much money and life as you could want! The two things most human beings would choose above all - the trouble is, humans do have a knack of choosing precisely those things that are worst for them."

Mokuba lay there, lost for words. Dumbledore hummed a little and smiled at the ceiling. Insane old man.

"Sir?" said Mokuba. "I've been thinking... even if the Stone's gone, Voldemort's going to try other ways of coming back, isn't he? I mean, he hasn't gone, has he?"

"No, Mr. Kaiba, he has not. He is still out there somewhere, perhaps looking for another body to share... not being truly alive, he cannot be killed. He left Quirrell to die; he shows just as little mercy to his followers as his enemies. Nevertheless, Mr. Kaiba, while you may only have delayed his return to power, it will merely take someone else who is prepared to fight what seems a losing battle next time - and if he is delayed again, and again, why, he may never return to power."

Mokuba nodded, but stopped quickly, because it made his head hurt. Then he said, "Sir, there are some other things I'd like to know, if you can tell me... things I want to know the truth about..."

"The truth." Dumbledore sighed. "It is a beautiful and terrible thing, and should therefore be treated with great caution. However, I shall answer your questions unless I have a very good reason not to, in which case I beg you'll forgive me. I shall not, of course, lie."

"Well... Voldemort said that he only killed my mother because she tried to stop him from killing me. But why would he want to kill me in the first place?"

Dumbledore sighed very deeply this time.

"Alas, the first thing you ask me, I cannot tell you. Not today. Not now. You will know, one day... put it from your mind for now, Mokuba." Mokuba scowled but didn't have it in him to correct him. "When you are older... I know you hate to hear this... when you are ready, you will know. Your mother died to save you. If there is one thing Voldemort cannot understand, it is love. He didn't realize that love as powerful as your mother's for you leaves its own mark. Not a scar, no visible sign... to have been loved so deeply, even though the person who loved us is gone, will give us some protection forever. It is in your very skin." Dumbledore smiled. "It's what let you get away with only a scar."

Mokuba looked up at him confused. "A scar? What sca-" He cut off and his hand flew to his forehead. "You mean the one that was on my forehead?"

"Was? What do you mean was?"

He lifted up his bangs. "I was in a ... Magical accident and it just disappeared."

He watched as Dumbledore stared at his clear forehead, shock on his face... and happiness in his eyes? Dumbledore leaned back in his chair and chuckled. "Oh, I see now. Shadow Magic would have that effect on other dark magic."

Mokuba blinked in surprise and shock and let his bangs fall again. "You... you know about shadow magic?"

"Oh yes. The Japanese ministry has been keeping an eye on your friends and brother. By definition, they are all muggles. If it wasn't for shadow magic, your brother couldn't do any of our magic."

Oh well, yes. That does make sense. He was wondering how a Japanese School had missed his brother. "And sir, there's one more thing..."

"Just the one?"

"How did I get the Stone out of the mirror?"

"Ah, now, I'm glad you asked me that. It was one of my more brilliant ideas, and between you and me, that's saying something. You see, only one who wanted to find the Stone - find it, but not use it - would be able to get it, otherwise they'd just see themselves making gold or drinking Elixir of Life. My brain surprises even me sometimes... Now, enough questions. I suggest you make a start on these sweets. Ah! Bettie Bott's Every Flavor Beans! I was unfortunate enough in my youth to come across a vomit flavored one, and since then I'm afraid I've rather lost my liking for them - but I think I'll be safe with a nice toffee, don't you?"

He smiled and popped the golden-brown bean into his mouth. Then he choked and said, "Alas! Ear wax!"

Madam Pomfrey, the nurse, was a nice woman, but very strict.

"Just five minutes," Mokuba pleaded.

"Absolutely not."

"You let Professor Dumbledore in..."

"Well, of course, that was the headmaster, quite different. You need rest."

"I am resting, look, lying down and everything. Oh, go on, Madam Pomfrey..."

"Oh, very well," she said. "But five minutes only."

And she let Draco, Ron, and Hermione in.

"Mokuba!"

Hermione looked ready to fling her arms around him again, but Mokuba was glad she held herself in as his head was still very sore.

"Oh, Mokuba, we were sure you were going to - Dumbledore was so worried-"

"The whole school's talking about it," said Ron. "What really happened?"

It was one of those rare occasions when the true story is even more strange and exciting than the wild rumors. Mokuba told them everything: Quirrell; the mirror; the Stone; Voldemort; and how his brother and Kisara saved the day. The others were a very good audience; they gasped in all the right places, and when Mokuba told them what was under Quirrell's turban, Hermione screamed out loud.

"So the Stone's gone?" said Draco finally. "Dumbledore's friend, that Flamel, he's just going to die?"

"That's what I said, but Dumbledore thinks that - what was it? - 'to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure.'"

"I always said he was off his rocker," said Ron, looking quite impressed at how crazy his hero was. Draco looked at him with a deadpan expresstion.

"Thats not a good thing, you know."

"So what happened to you three?" said Mokuba.

"Well, I got back all right," said Hermione. "Draco had alreay brought Ron round and we were dashing up to the owlery to contact Dumbledore when we met him in the entrance hall - he already knew - he just said, 'Mokuba's gone after him, hasn't he?' and hurtled off to the third floor."

"D'you think he meant you to do it?" said Ron. "Sending you your father's cloak and everything?"

"That would make sense..." Draco mused.

"Well," Hermione exploded, "if he did - I mean to say that's terrible - you could have been killed."

"I hope not," said Mokuba thoughtfully. "Seto's about to kill him anyway."

"Listen, you've got to be up for the end-of-year feast tomorrow." Draco said. "Remember, I sat with you three during Halloween, so you three get to sit with me during this feast!" The others nodded and laughed, thinking of everybodies faces when three Gryffindors sat with the Slytherins.

At that moment, Madam Pomfrey bustled over.

"You've had nearly fifteen minutes, now OUT" she said firmly.

After a good night's sleep, Mokuba felt nearly back to normal.

"I want to go to the feast," he told Madam Pomfrey as she straightened his many candy boxes. "I can, can't I?"

"Professor Dumbledore says you are to be allowed to go," she said stiffly, as though in her opinion Professor Dumbledore didn't realize how risky feasts could be. "And you have another visitor."

"Oh, good," said Mokuba. "Who is it?"

Seto came through the door as he spoke. He sat down next to Mokuba, took one look at him, and sighed. "I don't think being at this school is the best idea. Maybe you shouldn't come back next year."

Mokuba quickly shook his head. "No! No! Nii-San! I don't want to leave! I have friends here and its my own fault that this happened. If I never went down there, he wouldn't of gotten the stone out of the mirrior and Dumbledore would of resuced you!"

This made Seto make a face. "On second thought, I'm glad YOU were the one to come down there. I don't think I could of standed being rescued by the old man with the god da-danged twinkle in his eye..." Seto looked at Mokuba. "Do you really want to come back next year?" Mokuba nodded. "Fine fine..." Seto gave him a small smile. "Oh, Hagrid told me to give you this." Seto handed him a book.

It seemed to be a handsome, leather-covered book. Mokuba opened it curiously. It was full of wizard photographs. Smiling and waving at him from every page were his mother and father.

"Said he sent owls off to all of your parents' old school friends, asking for photos... he knew you didn't have any... " Mokuba couldn't speak, but Seto understood. "I'll just tell him that you liked it."

"So hows the case with Kisara?" Mokuba couldn't help asking. Seto chuckled.

"Oh, when the Ministry found out she saved the Boy-Who-Lived, they were estatic to let me keep them. Of course, then they found out you changed your name and live in Japan outside of school, they were livid. Apperantly Dumbledore kept that little peice of information a secret. I just left after that. He has to deal with his own problems after all..."

Mokuba made his way down to the end-of-year feast alone that night. He had been held up by Madam Pomfrey's fussing about, insisting on giving him one last checkup, so the Great Hall was already full. It was decked out in the Slytherin colors of green and silver to celebrate Slytherin's winning the house cup for the seventh year in a row. A huge banner showing the Slytherin serpent covered the wall behind the High Table.

When Mokuba walked in there was a sudden hush, and then everybody started talking loudly at once. He slipped into a seat between Ron and Hermione and infront of Draco at the Slytherin table and tried to ignore the fact that people were standing up to look at him and the whispers at why they were sitting there. One thing was better, however. Nott and his friends didn't glare at him. No, they just ignoring him.

Fortunately, Dumbledore arrived moments later. The babble died away.

"Another year gone!" Dumbledore said cheerfully. "And I must trouble you with an old man's wheezing waffle before we sink our teeth into our delicious feast. What a year it has been! Hopefully your heads are all a little fuller than they were... you have the whole summer ahead to get them nice and empty before next year starts..." Mokuba saw Seto scowl.

"Now, as I understand it, the house cup here needs awarding, and the points stand thus: In fourth place, Hufflepuff, with three hundred and fifty-two; in third, Ravenclaw with four hundred and twenty-six; in second, Gryffindor with four hundred and sixty-two and Slytherin, four hundred and ninety-two."

A storm of cheering and stamping broke out from the Slytherin table. Mokuba joined in and Ron and Hermione just clapped politely.

"Yes, Yes, well done, Slytherin," said Dumbledore. "However, recent events must be taken into account."

The room went very still. The Slytherins' smiles faded a little.

"Ahem," said Dumbledore. "I have a few last-minute points to dish out. Let me see. Yes...

"First - to Mr. Ronald Weasley..."

Ron went purple in the face; he looked like a radish with a bad sunburn.

"... for the best-played game of chess Hogwarts has seen in many years, I award Gryffindor house fifty points."

Gryffindor cheers nearly raised the bewitched ceiling; the stars overhead seemed to quiver. Percy could be heard telling the other prefects, "My brother, you know! My youngest brother! Got past McGonagall's giant chess set!" Nott glared at them.

At last there was silence again.

"Second - to Miss Hermione Granger... for the use of cool logic in the face of fire, I award Gryffindor house fifty points."

Hermione buried her face in her arms; Mokuba strongly suspected she had burst into tears. Gryffindors up and down the table were beside themselves - they were a hundred points up. Pansy glared at them next.

"Third - to Mr. Mokuba Kaiba... " said Dumbledore. The room went deadly quiet. "... for pure nerve and outstanding courage, I award Gryffindor house sixty points." All Slytherins glared at them, even Draco. Mokuba laughed nervously.

The din was deafening. Those who could add up while yelling themselves hoarse knew that Gryffindor now had six hundred and twenty-two points - They had won the house cup.

Mokuba stood up and the room gradually fell silent.

"My points can't just go to Gryffindor. I'm double-sorted. So Slytherin should get 60 points too." He called out. "Also, Draco helped just as much. He should get points too."

"Of course," said Dumbledore, smiling. "60 points to Slytherin also and, 50 points to Mr. Draco Malfoy, for helping his friends in a dangerous situation." The silence was still there but you could hear the mutters that were starting to return. That put Slytherin at six hundred and two, just twenty points away, but it was still a Gryffindor victory. Dumbledore spoke again before they got any louder though. "And another 20 points to Mr. Draco Malfoy, for befriending other houses, something we all need to do."

Silence again but then someone standing outside the Great Hall might well have thought some sort of explosion had taken place, so loud was the noise that erupted from the Gryffindor and Slytherin tables.

"Which means," Dumbledore called over the storm of applause. "we need a little change of decoration."

He clapped his hands. In an instant, the green hangings became mixed with scarlet and the silver became mixed with gold; the huge Slytherin serpent moved to one side and a towering Gryffindor lion appeared on the other. Snape was shaking Professor McGonagall's hand, with a half horrible, forced, and half genuine smile. He caught Mokuba's eye and Mokuba knew at once that Snape's feelings toward him hadn't changed one jot. This didn't worry Mokuba. It seemed as though life would be back to normal next year, or as normal as it ever was at Hogwarts. All three Gryffindors high-fived Draco. This was the first Slytherin-Gryffindore tie in years!

It was the best evening of Mokuba's life, better than Christmas, or knocking out mountain trolls... he would never, ever forget tonight.

Mokuba had almost forgotten that the exam results were still to come, but come they did. To their great surprise, Ron passed with good marks; Hermione and Draco, of course, had the best grades of the first years and Mokuba had been somewhere inbetween his friends. Even Neville scraped through, his good Herbology mark making up for his abysmal Potions one.

And suddenly, their wardrobes were empty, their trunks were packed, Neville's toad was found lurking in a corner of the toilets; notes were handed out to all students, warning them not to use magic over the holidays ("I always hope they'll forget to give us these," said Fred Weasley sadly); Hagrid was there to take them down to the fleet of boats that sailed across the lake; they were boarding the Hogwarts Express, as Seto was letting Mokuba ride back with his friends and would meet him at the platform; talking and laughing as the countryside became greener and tidier; eating Bettie Bott's Every Flavor Beans as they sped past Muggle towns; pulling off their wizard robes and putting on jackets and coats; pulling into platform nine and three-quarters at King's Cross Station.

It took quite a while for them all to get off the platform. A wizened old guard was up by the ticket barrier, letting them go through the gate in twos and threes so they didn't attract attention by all bursting out of a solid wall at once and alarming the Muggles.

"You must come and stay this summer," said Mokuba, "All of you - I'll send you an owl. I would love to show you Japan! And I could explain Duel Monsters a bit better!"

"Thanks," said Draco, "I'll need to convice my father though..." He looked around and pointed out a man that could only be his father. "There he is. Might as well let him know that I'm friends with you. See ya!" Draco walked away, waving.

People jostled them as they moved forward toward the gateway back to the Muggle world. Some of them called:

"Bye, Mokuba!"

"See you, Kaiba!"

"Still famous," said Ron, grinning at him.

"In Japan too," said Mokuba. "Trust me."

He, Ron, and Hermione passed through the gateway together. "There he is, Mom, there he is, look!"

It was Ginny Weasley, Ron's younger sister, and she was pointing at Ron.

"Be quiet, Ginny, and it's rude to point."

Mrs. Weasley smiled down at them.

"Busy year?" she said.

"Very," said Mokuba. "Thanks for the fudge and the sweater, Mrs. Weasley."

"Oh, it was nothing, dear."

"Ready Mokuba?"

It was Seto, who was back in his battle city outfit, jacket and all.

"You must be Mokuba's brother!" said Mrs. Weasley.

Seto nodded. "Yes I am. Are you Ron's family?" Mrs. Weasley nodded. Seto turned back to Mokuba. "I'll be waiting in the parking lot." He walked away, letting Mokuba say goodbye.

"See you over the summer, then." Mokuba said.

"Hope you have a good holiday," said Hermione, sad to see the year end.

"Oh, I will," said Mokuba, and they were surprised at the grin that was spreading over his face. "My friends back in Japan won't believe what a year I had..."

**_Now, I have a few questions..._**

**_What do you want to see this summer before the second year?_**

**_How should Draco's family react?_**

**_How would Sirius and the Kaibas's react to each other?_**

**_How does Rebecca act?_**

**_What Pairings do you want?_**

**_Also, I'm sorry about no case for Kisara scenes but this is set in Mokuba's pov and he didn't see them. Also, I can't write things like that..._**


	12. Chapter 12

Hey. I edited the last chapter. The feast scene, really, because Ekzentric Lohner brought to my attention that, because of this AU, the points would be different. And s/he gave me a wonderful idea so thank you again, Ekzentric Lohner. So go read the feast scene again and please please please tell me how Rebecca _acts_! Because I have no idea. Also, here are the pairings that I have planed, however these are not set in stone and if you don't like one, just tell me~!

Draco/Hermione

Ron/Luna

Mokuba/either Rebcca or Serenity, depending which one you guys like best. Both of which are coming this next year.

And yes, the summer chapters are going to be posted on this story but then it'll be a new story, kay~?


	13. Chapter 13

Mokuba sighed and smiled as he looked out his brother's office window. It felt good to be back in Japan, though they had only been back for a few days. He absentmindedly petted Kuro as he listened to his brother rant about how 'the idiots that work here can't even run the company' him here. It was made even worse when Seto remembered that he went out of the Hogwarts wards when ever there was a Hogsmead weekend to Skype with his workers.

At this point, Mokuba was waiting for Yugi and the others to come say hi. It would be funny, when they saw Seto just accept the knowledge of magic that easily. He made sure to be in the room for that conversation. He glanced at his brother, who was still yelling at a worker, before shifting in his seat beside the window to take a better look of the street below. It was always so busy this time of day and, after getting used to the normal hair at Hogwarts, he was entertained at all the different colors he could see from this high up that he had, before, ignored. Purple, blue, pink, and bright red, even brighter then the Weasleys. He wondered how many of those colors were natural. As he scanned over the sea of people that blended into a mob of color, he did a double take when he saw the familiar black and yellow combo.

Yugi was here already? Mokuba glanced at his brother, who was now done yelling and was massaging his temples, before turning back to the window. He knew that if Seto knew Yugi was coming, Seto wouldn't let him up. After looking for a moment, he caught sight of Yugi again, and looked to see if anyone else was with him. None of his friends were with him but someone was following. Mokuba couldn't tell if Bakura was stalking the duelist or if Ryou was just behind Yugi as they walked, but he knew Seto was about to have to deal two yamis in his office.

Mokuba couldn't see them now, so he assumed that they already went inside. He quickly sent a text to the receptionist downstairs to let them up with telling Seto, then glanced at his brother again. He was leaning back into his chair and was petting Kisara. Mokuba was just glad they were able to convince everybody that she was just a robot prototype they had made but he wasn't going to let Seto tell this to Yugi and the others.

Mokuba tilted his head towards the door at the sound of a knock and he saw Seto sit up straight, eyebrows furrowed.

"Who... Heather," Mokuba rolled his eyes. The receptionist's name was Helen. "Didn't tell me I had a visiter..." Seto muttered. He then answered. "Come in."

Yugi poked his head in and smiled at Seto. "Hey! Kaiba! I'm glad you're back!" Mokuba shifted his body back towards his brother and the others as Yugi fully came into the room with Ryou (Ryou, not Bakura) following close behind. "And you too Mokuba! How was your trip?"

Mokuba could see Seto's eyebrow twitch and he sweat dropped. He thought that his brother's stress levels went down after they had left the school for the summer, but apparently Yugi just had a way to bring them back up. "Fine. Is there a reason your here?" Seto asked, leaning back in his chair again. Yugi smiled even more and sat down in a seat on the other side of the desk, making the twitch become bigger.

"Well, I just thought I could-"

"Is that... a dragon?!" Ryou asked, still standing by the door, looking like he would rather not be here. He was pointing to Kisara. Mokuba saw Seto stiffen.

"No. It's a robotic prototype that my company-" Mokuba sniffled a laugh. His brother was so quick to deny she was a dragon that he might as well admit it. Mokuba could tell Seto was having a mental debate about whether or not to tell Yugi about this last year. Mokuba would just have to speed up this confession.

"Seto, just tell them." Mokuba smiled innocently when the others looked at him. He knew it worked on Yugi and Ryou but not on Seto. Only his puppy dog face worked on Seto. "They, of all people, will believe you and you might as well get this conversation out of the way."

"Mokuba!" Seto said, slightly glaring. Mokuba's smile turned cheeky and his brother sighed. He turned back to Yugi and Ryou, who were looking at them for an answer. "Yes it's a dragon. Her name is Kisara..."

Kisara, in response to her name, nudged Seto's hand and Seto, getting the message, started to pet her again. Yugi and Ryou, who was still standing, just blinked in confusion before Ryou burst out laughing. It was a dark laugh and Mokuba had to do a double take before he realized that it was Bakura who was standing in the room now. The white haired teen sat down in the chair beside Yugi and smirked at Seto. "So the priest finally believes in magic, huh? What made you finally admit it?"

Mokuba watched as Yugi turned into Yami and glare at Bakura. "Just because he has a dragon doesn't mean he believes, Tomb robber. It's Kaiba. Nothing is going to make him believe."

Mokuba sniffled another laugh as he watched Seto roll his eyes and start massaging his temple again. "So glad you have faith in me, Yami." Yami stopped glaring at Bakura and shot his head towards Seto. Bakura's smirk got wider. "Don't look so surprise." Seto smirked. It was obvious he was enjoying Yami's face.

"What?! What made you believe when all those shadow games couldn't?! You even had your soul taken and you still didn't admit it!" Yami said, a bit more loudly then before. He wasn't really screaming but he was getting close to it. Seto opened his mouth to answer but Mokuba interrupted.

"Big brother, are we even aloud to tell them?" Seto smirked at him.

"Well, the old man knows about shadow magic so why not? Though," Seto turned back to the yamis. "Only you two and the Ishtars may know about this. The mutt, the pointy hair idiot, and the friendship freak may not know anything about it. Got it?"

Bakura just smirked again and leaned back into his chair before nodding. Bakura never really like Yugi and the others, his only friend being Marik, so he had no problem with this rule. Mokuba could just see the plots forming in his head and felt that the Wizarding bank, the safest place besides Hogwarts, was about to lose that stats.

One glance at Yami, however, showed that he won't be as easy to convince. "Kaiba, I won't leave my friends out of this. What ever I'm involved in, so are they."

"That's just it, Yami." Seto said sharply. "You aren't involved. Mokuba and I are. YOU just have the basic information. If you still don't want to leave them out, you may leave and I'll just tell Bakura."

Yami glanced at Bakura then at Seto then finally the door. He looked at the door for a long moment before finally looking back towards Seto, nodding. "Fine. Don't tell them. What is it?"

Mokuba watched as Seto grabbed a peice of parchment from his desk, as he always had some near him just in case, and folded it a third down under his desk, where the yamis couldn't see. Mokuba raised an eyebrow. What was bis brother doing? Seto grabbed a pen and slid the parchment to the yamis.

"I need to make sure you won't tell. So just sign the parchment for a wizards oath."

Yami raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. "A wizards oath? What is that?"

Seto smirked and Mokua suddenly knew what he was doing. "I'll tell once you sign."

Both yamis sat there for a moment before Bakura leaned forward and signed. At Yami's questioning look, Bakura shrugged and smirked(he does that a lot, doesn't he?).

"I assume that it's so we won't tell, right?" The last part was directed more to Seto then to Yami and the brunet nodded. "Right, and since I have no one I want to tell anyway, I lose nothing by signing. What about you, Pharaoh? You gonna sign?"

"What happens if we do tell?" Yami asked Seto.

Mokuba briefly wondered if they forgot about him being in the room but that thought quickly passed as he was too caught up in the conversation.

"If you tell one of your friends after you sign, all of your memories of magic will be erased." Seto answered, looking amused. "Now, whether or not that includes Shadow magic I don't know. Do you want to find out?"

Yami glared but glanced at Bakura again. He finally sighed and signed the paper too. Seto grabbed the parchment and put it back into his desk. He leaned back into his chair and smirked at the yamis. Bakura's smirk got bigger.

"Mokuba and I have been in England at a magic boarding school for the last year." He said rather bluntly. The yamis stared. Seto shrugged. "It's true. It's called Hogwarts."

Bakura then looked thoughtful. "Why have we never heard of this magic school before?"

"The magical world is a very tight secret. Most wizards don't really trust muggles." Seto explained. "And by all means and purposes, you two are muggles, as your magic is different from theirs," Yami raised an eyebrow.

"Then why do you know about it if we're considered, what was it?, muggles?" He asked. "And why are you going to an English boarding school? Aren't there Japanese ones?"

"Both of your questions have the same answer. Mokuba," Seto waved his hand towards Mokuba, who was still beside the window. Yami blinked in surprise and Mokuba rolled his eyes. Yami DID forget he was here didn't he? "Is from there and is a wizard. So I just got to tag along as a teacher."

"Mokuba's from England?" Bakura raised an eyebrow. "But he's your brother."

"We're adopted." Was all Seto had to say. Before the yamis could say anything else, there was a crash from outside the door, then some muffled voices, then a knock.

The yamis looked at Seto but he just shook his head. "Heather," 'Helen,' thought Mokuba. "Didn't tell me anyone was coming up." He turned to Mokuba. "Did you tell her to let someone up without telling me like you did with them?" He waved his hand towarded the yamis. Mokuba just shook his head slowly. He had no idea who was at the door. Seto turned back toward the door.

"Come in."

"Wotcher Kaibas!" A girl about Seto's age with short pink hair grinned and waved merrily as she came into the room, followed closely by Lupin. "My name is Nymphadora Tonks, though I would enjoy it if you called me Tonks!"

Yami and Bakura looked at Seto, who looked at Mokuba to see if he had any answers. Mokuba just shrugged. Mokuba glanced at Lupin and saw that he looked embarrassed for her sake. Tonks then gasped, making everyone look at her again.

"Your hair!" She said, pointing at Yami, who blushed. "It's awesome! I have to try it!" She closed her eyes and then the weirdest thing happened! Her hair, still short and in the same style as before, changed COLOR! Her square bangs that covered her forehead turned yellow, and the rest of it turned black, except for the tips that turned crimson. She turned her hair the same color as Yami!

Nobody could speak, as they were all too stunned at the display. Tonks ignored their gaping faces, however, and grinned cheekily at Lupin. "What do you think of my new hair color, Remus?"

Lupin smiled nervously. "Um... Maybe if you try the actual style," He replied, pointing at Yami too. Yami blushed even more.

Tonks just shook her head. "Nah. Too pointy." Yami turned completely red at this point and he glared at the teenage girl. She just grinned at him but then saw Bakura.

"Oh my wizarding god!" She ran over, her hair changing white in the process, and started messing with Bakura's hair. Mokuba chuckled at the look on his face. "Your hair is so soft~!"

This caused Bakura to snap out of his shock and he glared at Tonks, slapping her hands away. "Get your hands away from me, you insolent mortal!" He growled. Tonks stepped back in surprise, probably at the hash tone, before a look of understanding crossed her face.

"Oooh, you two are the yamis the Japanese Ministry told us so much about!"

"Japanese Ministry?" Yugi asked. Mokuba blinked before realizing he had changed back, and frowned. They needed to stop doing that!

"The magical government in Japan." Seto answered then he turned to the wizards. "They know that much about us?"

"Oh yes. They said something about you almost destroying the world...?" Lupin said. Mokuba watched Bakura smirk and lean back into the chair like it was a throne before letting Ryou have control. Immediately, the teen sat up straighter and blushed. No one but Mokuba noticed.

"Wait, why are you here?" Mokuba asked, turning his attention back to Tonks and Lupin.

"Well," Tonks started, throwing a newspaper on the desk. "Everybody in England AND Japan now knows your Harry Potter,"

"Harry Potter?" Ryou asked quietly. He was ignored.

Seto picked up the newspaper and Mokuba looked over his shoulder. There was a moving picture of him with Seto in the parking lot of Kings Cross from a few days ago. He was walking beside Seto with Kuro on his head, going to a safe place to activate their portkey. Above the picture was this headline:

WIZARDING SAVIOR HARRY POTTER NO LONGER LIVES IN ENGLAND!

"So now there are people after you now. Dumbledore had two options, send you back to the Dursleys," Tonks went on as they looked at the paper. Mokuba shot his head up at the mention of the Dursleys.

"No!" He yelled.

"-or, send us to watch over you. Obviously, he picked the right option." Lupin continued for Tonks. Seto put the paper down back on his desk, and Yugi picked it up.

"Cool, the pictures are moving..."

"Honestly, the only reason he didn't try to send you to the Dursleys is because the wards won't work anymore." Tonks mentioned.

"Wards?" Seto raised an eyebrow.

"Dumbledore explained it to the Order-don't ask, we can't tell you- before we left. The reason you were there in the first place was because of your mother's love protection. If you lived with a blood relative, then it would still be going strong." Lupin explained. Mokuba made a face. He didn't like all this talk about the Dursleys...

"But since Mokuba lives here, with me, the Blood protection is no longer there?" Seto asked.

"More or less," Tonks shrugged.

"Dumbledore believes that if he had always lived with his aunt, he would have protection against You-Know-Who touching him. But as he only lived there for about five years, the protection is only barley there." Lupin said.

"We're also here because there are two knew students from Domino that are starting next year." Tonks added, her hair turning back pink.

"Two new students?" Mokuba asked. "Why are they going to an English school and not a Japanese one?"

"Well, one, Rebecca Hopkins, is both an Japanese and American citizen, so she got to choose. Instead of choosing an American or Japanese School, she choose Hogwarts." Tonks said. Mokuba blinked. Rebecca Hopkins? That girl that hacked their system? "The other, Serenity Wheeler, is just because the Japanese school is full and she has family in England."

Seto groaned and hung his head. "The mutt's sister is coming? Please don't tell me her brother is coming too!"

Mokuba laughed and Lupin just shook his head, looking confused at the reaction. "No. Ms. Wheeler and her mother are the only wizards in their family..."

"Am I the only one who is lost?" Yugi asked, putting the paper back down, interrupting the conversation.

"Don't worry Yugi, I am too." Ryou smiled at the other teen, and Yugi returned it. Yugi then looked at each of them before standing. "Well, I got to go. Are you coming Ryou?" The white haired teen nodded before standing as well. "Bye Kaiba! Bye Mokuba!"

Seto just grunted and Mokuba waved, still absentmindedly petting the now sleeping Kuro, as they walked out the door Before they completely left, however, Seto called them back.

"Remember the Wizard Oath!"

Yugi frowned but nodded. Then they were gone.

Lupin looked at the brothers, confused, as he and Tonks took the seats the item-bearers had just left. "Wizard Oath? You can't do an oath without a wand..."

Seto took the piece of parchment that Yami and Bakura had signed earlier back out of his desk and showed it to the wizards. "I had them sign this."

Lupin still looked confused. "But that's not an wizards oath..."

Seto smirked. "I know that. You know that. They don't know that."

_**I hope everyone is in character and sorry if this is just one big conversation. It was nessercary. And I have given myself a challenge! One reviewer was a Manipulative!Dumbledore and another asked for this not to be a Bashing fic. So I shall fuse them by having a good Manipulative!Dumbledore which will be hard for me to write, so tell me if I go to far with the manipulation. Same for the Malfoys. They are going to be good guys but not right off. Tell me if i make them to evil at first~! **_

_**Lets see if we can get to 40 reviews!**_


	14. Chapter 14

It had been a few weeks since the yamis visit and since Tonks and Remus(as he has asked to be called) started to stay with them, and the brothers had learned quickly that Tonks was a klutz. In the time she had been staying in the mansion, three vases, two pictures, and five glasses have all been broke and Mokuba counted themselves lucky that all three adult wizards knew the repair charm.

He had also gotten owls from his friends about coming to Japan. Because the Weasleys and the Malfoys hated each other, save for Draco and Ron, they decided for the Malfoys to come during late June and early July while the Weasleys came late July (With Mokuba and Seto paying for the trip, of course) and the brothers went back with them to England, though they would stay in the Leaky Caldron before school starts. Sadly, Hermione couldn't come this summer because her parents didn't feel comfortable with staying with people they don't know. Maybe next year.

Right now, he was waiting for the Malfoys to, well, pop in with the portkey Seto had sent, in the front room where the grand staircase was. Mokuba was amazed at how quickly his brother was learning the spells, while he himself was only a second year. Then again, Seto had always been a fast learner. Mokuba was startled out of his thoughts by a load POP! beside him on the steps. Mokuba jumped up in surprise and whirled around to the noise. The little creature that had made the noise had large, bat-like ears and bulging green eyes the size of tennis balls, and a pile of luggage beside him(at least, Mokuba assumed it was a he).

"Er - hello," said Mokuba nervously.

"Harry Potter!" said the creature in a high-pitched voice Mokuba was sure would carry up the stairs to his brothers study, as stupid as that sounded. He briefly wondered where his 'bodyguards' Tonks and Remus were before turning his attention back to the creature. "So long has Dobby wanted to meet you, sir ... Such an honor it is . . . ."

"Th-thank you," said Mokuba, calming down a bit and moving a little bit closer. "Who are you?"

"Dobby, sir. Just Dobby. Dobby the house-elf," said the creature.

"Oh - really?" said Mokuba. "I don't want to be rude or anything, but - why are you here exactly?..."

Dobby's bobbed his head up and down. "Oh, yes Harry Potter sir!" Mokuba twitched at the name. It was starting to get annoying for people to call him that. "Dobby was sent ahead of Dobby's masters to bring their luggage!"

Mokuba blinked. "Your masters? ... The Malfoys?" Dobby quickly nodded his head again. Mokuba opened his to asked what, exactly, a house elf was, because he felt he had waited long enough to not be rude, when the Malfoys showed up in the middle of the room, a little ways away from the grand staircase. This, of course, scared Mokuba MORE, as he had forgotten that the Malfoys would just show up out of nowhere. He whirled around again, but this time, he lost his footing on the stairs(luckily he was on the bottom step) and fell on his butt.

He felt his face heat up at Draco's chuckle and he glared at the blond. The staring contest was broken, however, when Mr. Malfoy cleared his throat. Mokuba quickly stood up and bowed at them.

"Malfoy-Sans! Nice to meet you!"

Mrs. Malfoy smiled. It looked like she meant for it to be disarming but it just looked cold. "Hello, Mr. Kaiba. So nice to invite us to your..." She paused and looked around. Mokuba caught her nose scrunching up and just decided to ignore it. For some reason, these people reminded him of his step-father's old business partners. "...Home."

"Oh, the pleasure's mine, Mrs. Malfoy. I hope the portkey worked fine. And Mr. Malfoy, my brother will be down in a moment to talk to you."

"Right, your... brother." Mr. Malfoy said, in a tone reminding Mokuba of Draco before they became friends. Apparently Draco was trying to copy his lovely father... "The famous Seto Kaiba that was able to go around the law and keep a dragon. I would enjoy talking to him."

Mokuba slowly nodded, not really knowing what to say to them. He didn't know them, so he can't treat them as friends and he couldn't act cold like he did to the people Seto does business with for fear that they would be offended. He then remember the luggage and Dobby behind him. "Do you want me to show you where to put your luggage?"

The Malfoys agreed and so, Mokuba began leading him up the stairs, with Draco beside him, the parents behind them, and being trailed by Dobby and the now floating luggage. As soon as they got to the top of the steps, Tonks had come from the other end of the hall. She smiled and ran over once she saw them.

"Wotcher Mokuba! Wotcher Malfoys!"

"Hey Tonks." Mokuba greeted. Mrs. Malfoy came up from behind him.

"Tonks? As in Ted Tonks? The muggleborn my sister married?"

Tonks nodded. "Yes. Mum warned me against you, Mrs. Malfoy."

Mrs. Malfoy smiled sadly. "Please call me Aunt Cissy. She was always my favorite sister. It simply crushed me when she got disowned." Her smile became a bit more happy and it wasn't the cold one from earlier. "I would love to get to know you."

Tonks smiled and nodded. Mokuba decided this was a good time to interrupt.

"Where have you and Remus been?" He asked. Tonks blinked, as if she had forgotten he was there, then smiled at him.

"We had to go get Rebecca. Her grandfather couldn't go with her to England because of work. So your brother agreed to let her stay here until school starts. She's in that room over there with Remus." At that last part, she pointed to the door a little down the hall. She turned back to Mrs. Malfoy. "Mrs. Mal-"

"Aunt Cissy, please."

"Right." Tonks grabbed her hand. "Aunt Cissy. I would love to show you the garden. You can't imagine how big it is, especially considering that you can't really see it from the outside of the mansion!"

Mrs. Malfoy smiled again and let Tonks lead her down the hall the, opposite way Tonks came from. Awkwardly, Mokuba was left with Draco and his father. With Draco was fine but his father hadn't said more then a sentence since he got there, and Mokuba still didn't know how to act. He had to make sure to fix that by the time he took over for Seto in the company.

But Seto saved the day again. "Mr. Malfoy, can you talk now?"

"Yes, of course, Mr. Kaiba." Mr. Malfoy twirled his cane and started following Seto back to his study. Before he was completely gone, Mr. Malfoy turned back to the two boys. "Draco, be good. And it was nice meeting you, Mr. Kaiba."

Mokuba, just remembering about Dobby, turned back to the house elf and the floating luggage. "Follow Seto and Mr. Malfoy, Dobby. Seto'll point out the rooms on the way to the study." Dobby bobbed his head up and down once more before leading the luggage down the hall after the adult.

Once they were alone, Draco turned to Mokuba with a raised eyebrow. "Who's Rebecca?"

"Rebecca Hopkins. She starting Hogwarts this year and, well, Tonks explained the rest." Mokuba said as he walked over to the room Tonks pointed too.

"Hopkins? Is she related to that Hufflepuff from our year?" Draco asked as he fell into step with Mokuba.

"There's a Hopkins in our year?" Mokuba stopped in front of the door and looked at Draco. Said blond rolled his eyes.

"Didn't you pay attention to the sorting?"

"No." Mokuba told him rather bluntly. "I was silently panicking like the rest of the first years. And honestly, I seemed to remember you didn't look any better then I did."

"Oh shut it." Draco scowled. "And you never answered my question."

Mokuba opened his mouth to tell Draco he didn't know anything about Rebecca's family other then her grandfather when a voice beat him to it.

"I don't know why you're asking him. He knows nothing about my family."

Mokuba felt his face heat up the slightest bit at being caught discussing Rebecca's family and he saw Draco's cheeks turn pink. Rebecca was now leaning in the doorway of the room the boys stopped in front of, looking amused, and Mokuba could see Remus back in the room faintly smiling.

"And if you mean Wayne Hopkins, then yes, we're distant cousins." She continued. She had changed a bit since he had seen her back before Battle City. Her pigtails were gone and her teddy bear had a pair of glasses. She looked like she was wearing a school uniform with a pink short sleeve jacket. "Though he doesn't know I'm coming to Hogwarts nor have I ever met him outside of letters, so I guess it doesn't matter."

"Oh." Was all Draco had to say. Mokuba looked at him funny. Why did his friend suddenly lose his voice?

"Are you coming in or are you three going to stay in the hall?" Remus asked from inside the room. Rebecca went back into the room with Mokuba and Draco following after a moment.

"What's with you?" Mokuba whispered to Draco.

"Don't you remember?" He whispered back. "I was like this when I first met Hermione too. I'm not used to talking to Muggleborns yet. That's the same reason my father hadn't said much. He had no idea what to say."

"What are you whispering about?" Rebecca asked. The boys straightened up and said nothing. "Oh, not going to tell? Too bad. I should properly introduce myself, as neither of you has ever actually met me. I'm Rebecca Hopkins, American National Duel Monsters Champion." She stuck out her hand for them to shake.

"Mokuba Kaiba." Mokuba shook her hand.

"Draco Malfoy." Draco shook her hand a bit more hesitantly. Rebecca raised an eyebrow.

"Are you ok, Draco? You seem nervous."

Mokuba grinned and Draco glared at him. It seems the blond knew what his evil grin looked like... "He's just not used to Muggleborns yet. The only one he really knows is our friend Hermione."

"Oh. You never met a muggleborn before?" Rebecca asked as they sat down in the beanbags in the corner. They were in Mokuba's game room. Draco shook his head. "...Are you a pureblood?"

Draco nodded slowly, confused. "I thought you figured that out when I introuduced myself..."

"Your name might be big in England, but I live in America and Japan, and I'm haven't been that involved in either of the countries' wizarding worlds since my mom died." She said as she leaned back into the beanbag. Mokuba blinked.

"Are... Are you a halfblood?"

"Yes. Tonks and Lupin didn't tell you that?" She asked with a raised eyebrow. Mokuba shook his head. "Huh. I thought they would explain why I'm transfering into Hogwarts at the age of 12..."

"12? Your going to be a second year? I thought you were going to be a first year." Mokuba commented. Then again, Remus and Tonks never said what year Rebecca and Serenity would be in...

"Ya I'm 12, but I am going be a first year. Hey Lupin, why didn't-" She cut off, looking around the room with a confused expression. Mokuba and Draco soon followed her lead. It turns out Remus had left sometime since they had entered the room. They looked at each other and shrugged. None of they had noticed the brunette leaving.

"Anyway," Rebecca continued after a minute. "Since I live in both America and Japan, both countries missed me last year. You know, I was in Japan when the American letters went out and in America when the Japanese letters went out." She sighed and fixed her glasses that were slipping down her nose. "Bad luck on my part and idiotic on theirs. And, like I said earlier, me and grandpa(he's a muggle by the way) hadn't been in real contact with the wizarding world for years, so nobody questioned why I wasn't in school, and we had forgotten about it mostly."

"You forgot you were a witch?" Draco asked incredulously. Rebecca blushed and glared at him.

"My mom died when I was young, ok?!" She huffed. "And my grandpa never knew much about magic in the first place!"

Draco put his hands up surrender and Mokuba felt the need to step in.

"So when someone noticed you haven't gone to school, they let you pick?" Mokuba asked, remembering what Tonks had said back when the wizards showed up weeks ago. Rebecca nodded, thankfully taking her attention off of Draco. Draco mouthed thank you and Mokuba hid a laugh. Apparently, Rebecca's glare scared the blond pure blood. "What made you pick Hogwarts?"

She smiled and handed him a folded up newspaper from her pocket. He unfolded it and looked at the picture first, as it was another moving picture of him, this time with Draco, Ron, and Hermione getting off the train once school ended. Draco looked over his shoulder at it and smirked, probably at how he was also in the picture as, as far as Mokuba seen, all the pictures so far have just been him and Seto.

"I was going to pick Salem's Witches Institute over on the east coast, mostly because their starting age is 14, like a normal high school and I could challenge myself." She explained. "But then I saw you, Mokuba, all over the newspapers and they're saying you're Harry Potter. I figured I could more excitement out of going to Hogwarts after learning that."

"I'm glad I influence your decision." Mokuba commented dryly.

Rebecca just smiled.

Later that night, after showing Rebecca and Draco rooms for them to stay in, and talking to Seto about plans to go to Kaibaland with them tomorrow, Mokuba walked into his bedroom, closed the door, and turned to collapse on his bed. The trouble was, there was already someone sitting on it.

_**Thanks for all the reviews~! Lets see if we can get 50~! Also tell me if I have anyone out of character because half of these characters are really hard to write.**_

_**50 reviews~!**_


	15. Chapter 15

Mokuba looked at the big black dog on his bed in confusion and shut the door without thinking. He walked a few steps before the dog turned into a man with a stringy black hair and dirty rags for clothes.

Mokuba screamed but the sound died in his throat because he was so scared. The dog just turned into a dog and was in his room! He quickly started to fumble for the doorknob, as his back was still to the door, without taking his eyes off the man.

The man shook his head. "Please calm down!" he pleaded. "I just want to talk!"

Mokuba finally grasped the doorknob. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't go get Tonks, Remus, and Seto right now!" He hissed. This man was creeping him out but he wanted to know why it was so important that Mokuba need to listened to him.

"Remus? Remus Lupin is here? And Nymphadora Tonks?" The man questioned. Mokuba nodded hesitantly. "If they know I'm here, they will tell you those lies about me! Please! You have to listen!"

Mokuba's grip on the doorknob tightened. He knew he should go and get someone or yell out, he had learned something after all the times he had been kidnapped, but... He bit his lip. This man just looked so genuinely sincere. Mokuba just stood there for what seemed like ages before he sighed.

"You have five minutes before I go get somebody to tell me what you want." Mokuba said, his hand not leaving the doorknob. "Start talking."

The man sighed in what seemed like relief. "Thank you, Harry...err, I mean Mokuba." He laughed humorlessly. "That's going to take some getting used to."

"Tick Tock."

"Right," He shook his head as if to clear it. "Well... I'm your godfather."

You could almost hear the record scratch. Mokuba, not knowing what else to say, just gave a flat "What?"

"I'm your godfather." The man repeated. "My name is Sirius Black and I was your dad's best friend. Me, your father, Remus, and a guy named Peter Pettigrew were friends during school."

"And why has Remus never mentioned you?" Mokuba asked, confused beyond belief.

"He thinks I betrayed your father and killed Pettigrew." Sirius answered. "But I didn't! Pettigrew did! And I didn't kill him! Pettigrew framed me and let me go to jail!"

Mokuba blinked. And blinked. And blinked. He really didn't know what to say to that. He barely understood what was just said. "Care to elaborate?"

"... When Voldemort started to target your parents, they hide under a charm that only them and their secret keeper would know where they are. Even if Voldemort was right up to the window, he would see the house. Har-Mokuba... I as good as killed them," he said. "I persuaded Lily and James to change to Peter at the last moment, persuaded them to use him as Secret-Keeper instead of me... I'm to blame, I know it... The night they died, I'd arranged to check on Peter, make sure he was still safe, but when I arrived at his hiding place, he'd gone. Yet there was no sign of a struggle. It didn't feel right. I was scared. I set out for your parents' house straight away. And when I saw their house, destroyed, and their bodies... I realized what Peter must've done... what I'd done..."

"You went after him, and he framed you for killing him..." Mokuba continued for Sirius. Ok, now it makes sense. But... "Do you have any proof?"

"..." Sirius looked thoughtful for a moment. "What about...a...wizards oath? Or a testimony under veritaserum or memories for a pensieve or..."

"Why didn't you offer these at a trail?" Mokuba asked.

"I never got a trail." Sirius said simply. Mokuba was shocked. Did the Ministry just throw him in jail?

"We need another person for a wizards oath as we don't have the other two things here, right?" Mokuba asked and Sirius nodded. "... If you were really friends with Remus, then you should be able to convince him to give you a chance."

"Yes you're right. He'll trust me after a wizards oath." Sirius said nodding.

Mokuba reached back to grabbed the doorknob again(when had he let go of that?) and opened the door. Of course, he wasn't stupid enough to take his eyes off of Sirius.

Of course, before he could call Remus, someone else slammed the door. Mokuba jumped back from the door, startled.

It was Dobby.

"D-Dobby? What are you doing?" Mokuba stepped backward. The elf was creeping him out.

"Mr. Harry Potter, sir! Dobby has come to warn you!" The elf said, luckily not noticing Sirius. "Mr. Harry Potter sir can not go back to Hogwarts this year."

Mokuba moved so he would be in front of Sirius in Dobby's view and motioned the black haired man to his closet. "Ok, first, my name is Mokuba Kaiba, and two..." He made sure Sirius was hidden before yelling out, "Draco! Come get your elf!"

Dobby squeaked and popped out before Draco could come in.

"What's wrong?" Draco was in pajamas and he looked miffed for being woke up. Only then did Mokuba realize how late it was. "Dobby isn't even in here."

"He popped out before you came in." Mokuba explained. "He came in here saying that he was trying to warn me and saying I shouldn't go to Hogwarts this year."

Draco sighed and rolled his eyes. Mokuba sworn he heard his friend mutter, "Crazy elf..." before calling out, "Dobby! Get in here!"

The elf popped back in, looking very nervous as he ringed his ear. "Yes young master Malfoy sir?" Dobby squeaked.

"Leave Mokuba alone and don't block his way to Hogwarts, understand Dobby?"

The elf nodded and whimpered, "Yes young Master Malfoy, sir." before popping out.

"I'm going back to bed." Draco said before walking out the door. Mokuba stopped him before he could fully out of the doorway, however.

"Can you get Remus for me?"

Draco grumbled and glared at Mokuba but he could tell the glare was only half hearted. The blond nodded. Mokuba turned back to his closet where Sirius was peeking his head out of and sighed.

"All I wanted was a relaxing summer with my friends after the life threatening school year," He muttered as Remus came in. "But nooo..."

"Mokuba?"

Mokuba turned back to the door where Remus was and took a deep breath. "Remus, who is Sirius Black?"

He saw Remus stiffen. "He is a traitor, the one who betrayed your parents."

"And he was friends with you and my father during school." Mokuba said simply. Remus blinked and tensed more.

"How... How do you know that?! And how do you know about Sirius Black in the first place?!" Remus questioned, eyes narrowing. "We have kept it from you that he has escaped for weeks, how do you-?" He broke off and looked around the room. "He's in here, isn't he?"

"Sirius Black is here?!" They heard Draco half-yelled from the hallway. That was when Mokuba realized they had left the door open. Draco came in and looked around, hiding the frightened expression he now had. Remus pretty much ignored him.

"Remus..." Sirius came out the closet and looked at the brunette. Remus spun around, as his back was to the closet, and pointed his wand at Sirius. Sirius put his hands up in surrender. "No! Please listen! I'm innocent! I swear! I didn't betray James and Lily, and I didn't kill anybody! I will even do a wizards oath to prove it!"

"A wizards oath?" Remus spoke, in a very tense voice. He paused for a moment before continuing. "Then where is he, Sirius? Where is Peter if you didn't kill him?"

"Pettigrew's at the Weasleys." Sirius answered. Mokuba felt he and Draco were forgotten.

"But then..." Remus muttered, staring at Sirius, "... why hasn't he shown himself before now? Unless-" Remus's eyes suddenly widened, "- unless you're telling the truth... he was the one... you switched... without telling me?"

Sirius nodded, looking hopeful.

"You're innocent... You're really innocent... And Pettigrew was the traitor..." Remus trailed off putting his wand down before embracing Sirius like a brother.

"So Black is innocent?" Draco asked and Mokuba nodded. Draco just started to massage his temples and Mokuba sniffled a laugh.

"How did you brake out anyway?" Mokuba asked.

"I slipped through the bars in my dog form. The Dementors can't feel animals as well as humans." Sirius explained. "Then I stole some floo powder from a Wizarding home and used it to floo to the More Kama, which is the Japanese version of the Leaky Caldron. Luckily, Japanese wizards don't know how I look and thought my appearance was because of the soot that comes from trans-continental floo travel. Of course, the only reason I escaped was because of the pictures in the paper of Mokuba and his friends."

Remus sighed. "Why do I feel I'm going to get an owl about you being in Japan tomorrow?"

xXx

After a bit, they decided not to tell the elder Malfoys, to tell Tonks and Rebbeca after Draco and his family left, and Seto after they got back home from Kaibaland. Not that they didn't trust the elder Malfoys- ok, they didnt trust the elder Malfoys. Even Draco couldn't give them a good rating when it came to that.

They decided for Sirius to stay as a dog Mokuba had found the day before. He only convinced Seto to let Padfoot stay by promising he wouldn't stay more than a few months, just until Mokuba "found him an owner". Luckily, Kuro had gotten along just fine with Pads.

And as it turned out, Remus did get a letter about Sirius in the morning, and was trying to figure out how to reply across the table from the boys and Rebecca. The elder Malfoys were eating at the end of the table and Seto was in his office. Padfoot was sitting by Mokuba's chair.

"You ready for Kabialand?" Mokuba asked Draco at breakfast.

"Yes. And thanks for the muggle clothes." Draco replied, glancing down to his new outfit that consisted of a pair of jeans, a black vest, and a green tee shirt. The Malfoys didn't have any muggle clothes, so Mokuba gave Draco one of his outfits and the older Malfoys transfigured their robes.

Mokuba was about to reply when there was a crash in the living room. Draco, Mokuba, and Rebecca looked at each other for a moment before running to see what the noise was.

What they saw was two red heads covered in soot on the floor in front of the fireplace with Tonks sitting on the floor in front of them next to a knocked over table.

"Ron?" Mokuba and Draco said at the same time. Rebecca just looked confused.

"Hey mate." Ron said, shaking off the soot. "I really hate international Floo travel."

"What are you doing here?" Draco asked.

"Our parents let me and Ginny come early." Ron explained. Then he looked at the blushing redhead girl that Mokuba recognized from the trainstation last year. "Oh, and this is my little sister, Ginny. She has a crush on you Mokuba, or more specificly, on Harry Potter."

"Wonderful." Mokuba muttered.

"Ginny, this is Mokuba Kaiba, Draco Malfoy, and..." Ron pointed to each of them as he said their name but stopped at Rebecca. "... Sorry but I don't know who you are."

"Rebecca Hopkins. I'm starting Hogwarts as a first year this next school year." Rebecca introduced herself.

"Nice to meet you." Ron said, smiling. "Ginny's gonna be a first year too, right Gin?"

Ginny blushed at the call of attention to her but nodded, smiling at Rebecca. Mokuba turned to the mostly forgotten Tonks, who was fixing the table.

"Tonks, are you ok?" He asked, bringing attention back to her. "Sorry I didn't ask before, but Ron and Ginny kinda took our attention."

"I'm fine," Tonks said. "I was waiting for them to show up but I started to think about Bla-" At this, she glanced at Mokuba before coughing to cover her near slip. "Something and was startled by the floo activating."

The kids laughed and got ready for Kaibaland. The Weasleys's had muggle clothes, but they didn't match, at all, so Remus had to transfigure their robes anyway.

Mokuba smiled at the kids as the elder Malfoys entered the magical enlarged car(it was either that or a limo and they wanted as little attention as possible). "Are you ready for Kaibaland?"

xXx

After about fifty rides, the adults decided to let the kids walk around the booths, within eye sight of course. Once Draco pointed it out, Mokuba had to laugh at the face Mr. Malfoy was making after getting conned to go on a roller coaster with Draco. Seto, of course, knew enough not to go on one with Mokuba, Remus was the only one to watch Padfoot, as Seto and Mrs. Malfoy don't really like dogs, and Tonks loved the rides, though about half the time she stayed with Remus.

"Do you think Tonks like him?" Rebecca whispered.

"Who?" Mokuba asked.

"Lupin!" She said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Mokuba didn't know how to respond, though, (un)thankfully, Ron took attention off the subject.

"What's that closed off building?" Ron asked. Mokuba looked to where he was pointing and cringe when he saw Death-T. Between Seto's mind crush, and Mokuba getting kidnapped by Pegasus, he and Seto had forrgotten that was still there.

"It's nothing." He said quickly, walking faster to get away from the building. He didn't even know where to start telling his friends about Death-T, nor did he want too.

"Mokuba, are you ok?" Draco asked, him amd the others catching up with the black haired boy.

"Just fine." He wanted this conversation to be over. He glanced at the others and saw Ron, Ginny, and Draco looking confused, curious, and worried. Rebecca looked understanding, as she had probably watched it in TV. "Look, can we just, drop it?"

Mokuba saw Ginny actual open her mouth to say something but all that came out was a scream as she got pulled backwards. Mokuba's eyes widened.

"Ginny!" Ron yelled, going into the abandon arena that Ginny was taken into. Mokuba looked around for the adults but couldn't find them in the crowd.

"Why do we always lose the adults at the wrong times?!" Mokuba cursed before following his friends in the arena.

xXx

_**I don't like how this chapter flows. I edited about three times before giving up. If its bad, tell me and I'll try to edit it again. **_

_**Also, at this moment in time, I have 82 follows. I don't suppose that everyone of you that has hit the follow button(or favorite) can leave a review? It could just be one word, though I do like the longer ones. PLEASE?! **_


	16. Chapter 16

Mokuba ran into the long since empty arena and jumped when the door closed behind him. Well, now they were trapped. He looked back at the room. It had an old dueling platform and Mokuba realized that this was the room that Seto beat Mr. Muto. The kids looked around but they couldn't find Ginny and Mokuba paled when he saw the usually closed door to Death T-1 was open. Did the kidnapper really go in there...? There is usually no power to use to open those doors so the power was obviously back on. Did they have to through the levels?

"Where's Ginny?" Ron asked the room in general, obviously worried for his sister. Draco looked around one more time before pointing to the door.

"Thats the only door out of here." He stated. The others all walked up next to him and Mokuba in front of the door. "They must of went through there."

"Lets go then!" Ron said. "We need to save my sister!"

"Mokuba... Is that...?" Rebecca asked before Ron could run in blindly.

"What?" Draco asked.

Mokuba nodded. "Yeah Rebecca, it is. The door leads to Death T-1."

"Death T1?" Ron asked, sounding just a bit fearful.

"The first level of a death themed theme park." Mokuba stated with some nervousness. He really didn't want to explain this, but it looked like he and his friends would have to go through the challenges.

Draco rounded on him. "Who would make a death themed theme park?!"

"Well, this is Kaibaland...so Seto." Mokuba answered. "Its closed now, it was used for one thing and now its done."

Draco pinched his nose and Ron looked a lot more fearful about his sister.

"How many levels are there agian, Mokuba? I don't remember." Rebecca asked.

"There are five in all, though we don't have to do Death T-4."

"Why?" Ron asked.

"It was my level." Mokuba said simply as he walked through the door, the others quickly following him, and the door closed behind them.

"No going back..." Draco muttered as he looked back at the now closed door.

"Lets go save my sister." Ron stated and they continued down the hall. Soon, they came to a door with the words "Death T-1" on them. As they got closer, the door started to open and a alarm started to go off.

"Whats this level?" Draco yelled over the alarm.

"It was a shooting task, right?" Rebecca yelled.

"Yeah!" Mokuba yelled. "But it shouldn't matter bec-oh," The alarm had stopped. "it shouldn't matter because the people that you go against are gone."

The door opened all the way. Mokuba looked at his friends before stepping through the door. He saw a flash of red before he was pulled back by Rebecca. He blinked to get his bearings back before looking up at Rebecca. "Thanks."

"What was that?!" She asked, helping him up.

"I thought you said the people to shoot at you were gone!" Ron yelled.

"Well, they were! Did anyone see what shot at me?" Mokuba asked.

"That." Draco said, pointing to a laser behind the glass on the other side of the room. Mokuba groaned.

"Those are the lasers that are suppossed to shoot out harmless lasers." Mokuba stated. "Who ever took Ginny must have messed with them to hurt us." He turned to the armor suits that were leaning against the wall. "Guess we have to play through. Only three of us, however, so who wants to stay back."

Rebecca opted to stay back for the level, and the three boys put on the suits. They grabbed the guns and hid behind a wall so they wouldn't get hit. Mokuba turned to his friends. "Ok, we need to hit the sensory(shut up Draco! I know its not a word!) that is beside the glass on the laser. There is a motion detector on the laser so when ever we step out from behind this wall, we will be hit. If the lasor hits the left side of our cybersuits, we're out. If all three of us get out, the game is done." Mokuba explained.

"Ok, so we just need to hit that pad while not being hit, right?" Ron asked.

"Right."

"Ok then." Ron said before jumping up on top of the wall and aimed his gun.

"Idiot Weasley!" Draco yelled.

"You're more like Joey then I thought!" Mokuba yelled, remembering what Joey did when he went through this.

"Hey, I know I hit it..." Mokuba heard Ron say before him and Draco were able to pull him back behind the wall. Ron hissed in pain and Mokuba noticed the electricity coming out of his shoulder. "You didn't say it would hurt." Ron hissed at Mokuba. "And I know I hit it. Why didn't it work?!"

Mokuba blushed. "Dangit! I forgot that Seto gave Yugi and the others toy guns so the assassians could kill them! How did they get out...?" The last part was more to himself but before he could continue, he noticed the looks on Draco and Ron's faces. "Err...don't ask."

"So we can really die?!' Ron squeaked.

Mokuba blushed even harder. He had nothing to say to that. Suddenly, the door opened behind them and Rebecca stepped out with a gun. She took aim and shot before the boys could say or do anything and hit the laser. The door on the other side of the room then opened. Rebecca smirked and dropped the gun.

"What... just happened?" Mokuba asked.

"Your girlfriend just beat the game." Ron said blankly.

"Don't call me/her that," The two said at the same time and Rebecca started to explain.

"I got bored, thinking that it won't be hard to hit the sensor," She said.

"It really wasn't. My gun just didn't do anything." Ron said as he took off the Cybersuit.

"So I grabbed another gun and started to shoot the one of the other cybersuits. It worked, and the suit started shooting out electricity. I realized what was going on, so I came in here and took aim." Rebecca continued, ignoring Ron's comment.

"Well, nice shot." Draco said. They started walking through the door and hallway to the next level. "Now, next game is...?" He asked Mokuba.

"Um..." Mokuba said as he saw the hallway turning creepy and halloween-y and the sign with the skull and arm of bones hanging from it said _'Death T-2'_. "The Haunted Mansion."

"Creepy..." Rebecca muttered.

"As long as there's no spiders." Ron said as they continued walking.

Mokuba led them to platform with five chairs on it and climbed on. "This is the quickest way to get to the mansion and then we can just skip that part because the murderer that was there for the challenge is no longer there." The others just chose to ignore the murderer part, much to Mokuba's relief. He needed to think what he said all the way through. The others joined him in the platform and Mokuba went over to the controls. "Just don't sit down. If you do, it might trap you in there and then if you make a noise, it will electricute you."

The platform started moving and the monsters and zombies and things popped up automatically as they went along. Other then the screaming-inducing things popping up randomly, the ride went rather smoothly. As did the mansion once they got there, as Mokuba just had to open the door to the side that was coved in fake cobbwebs so Yugi and the others wouldn't noticed and would have to go ino the mansion. They entered a white hallway and didn't have to walk far to get to the nextdoor that was marked _'Death T-3'_. Nobody asked what the next challenge was but Mokuba started to tel them anyway when they entered and the door shut.

"Ok, so in this one, we have to dodge the falling cubes until there is enough of them to climb up to that opening," Mokuba pointed to the opening in the wall about 10 feet up. "in the wall. Any questions?"

"Ya. What's with your brother and his twisted imagination?!" Draco asked, glaring.

"Actually," Mokuba blushed and looked anywhere but Draco. "I came up with this one."

"Sometimes you scare us, Mokuba." Ron said flatly. "You really do."

Mokuba was stopped from answering by Rebecca, who was watching for the cubes, shouting, "Dodge!" They all jumped away just in time for the cube to hit the gound. One almost landed on Ron, who was pulled out of the way by Draco. Mokuba had to jump out of the way for one only to be almost flattened by another. _What was he thinking when he designed this?!_ Oh, yeah. That _he_ would never have to do it. He had made some way to tell when the cubes were coming but for the life of him he couldn't remember. Who had figured it out last time? _Anzu! _She was a dancer so the key was to treat it as a dance!

"Ron! Climb on that block!" He yelled and pointed to a block behind the ginger. Ron blinked and quickly climbed on, just in time too as the next cube fell next to him a second later. As he got a hang of the timing, he was able to tell the others where to go before they got smashed. But then the timing changed. _'Crap, I forgot about the rhythem change!'_ Mokuba shouted in his head as Rebecca barely dodged the next cube.

"Are you ok, Rebecca?" Draco asked. Rebecca, in response, slipped off her jacket and climbed into the opening in the wall.

"Just fine."

After a moment, everyone had climbed through and they watched as a cube closed up the hole. After resting for a moment and their pants decreased, they continued to Death T-4. Just like Mokuba said, no one was there as that was _his _level, so they were able to go straight to the next level. As they walked down the final hallway, Ron asked something that had been on everybodys' minds.

"What are they doing that they needed to slow us down in that death trap?"

No one had an answer and they soon came to the final level. The first thing they saw was Ginny tied up and gagged over to the side and Ron and Draco, who were the ones in front, ran over to her. Mokuba and Rebecca were right behind.

"Ginny!" Ron said as he un gagged his sister and Draco untied her. "Are you ok?"

"Ron! Draco!" Ginny said. "Get away! Its a trap!"

"Of course its a trap! I thought using you as bait was obvious." Draco said.

"No, I mean right her, where I'm sitting-" She was cut off by her, Ron, and Draco being caught and trapped in a electric field. "...is a trap." She finished.

"Guys!" Mokuba yelled and Rebecca tried to get to them but the field ended up getting shocked.

"That won't do and here is the rule." Came a voice from behind them.

"To save them you have to duel." Came another voice.


	17. Chapter 17

Mokuba looked over at his friends that were trapped in the electric field and bit his lip. He and Rebecca couldn't lose this duel or they all get taken. He hoped that his brother and the other adults would get here soon...

"Hey, now you three can see a duel up close." He told the others, trying to make the situation lighter. He was rewarded by a few nervous laughs.

After they ran into the arena, they learned that it was the ParaDox brothers who took Ginny. Ron ran over to her and Draco, noticing something was wrong, ran after him. Now all three were trapped in a electric field.

Mokuba shook his head to clear his thoughts before him, Rebecca, and the ParaDox brothers turned on their duel disks.

**Para/Dox: 8000**  
**Mokuba/Rebecca: 8000**

"First Turn honor is mine," said Para, drawing his first card, "And I call forth Jirai Gumo in attack mode, and set one card facedown."

**Jirai Gumo**  
**Attribute: Earth**  
**Type: Insect**  
**Level: 4**  
**Attack: 2200**  
**Defense: 100**  
**Effect: When this card declares an attack, toss a coin and call it. If you call it right, attack normally. If you call it wrong, lose half your life points before attacking.**

"Oh good, so you two stopped the rhyming." Mokuba commented.

"My go!" declared Rebecca, drawing her first card, "I play Luster Dragon in Attack mode. I'll also add in two facedowns. Over to you."

"Very well," said Dox, "I call out Kaiser Sea Horse in Attack Mode, set one card, and call it a turn."

"My go!" said Mokuba, before looking at his cards, 'I gotta play my best with not only Rebecca but against these two as well.' "Sorry, Rebecca, gotta spend some points to take some points! I play 'Mausoleum of the Emperor!"

**Mausoleum of the Emperor**  
**Type: Field Spell**  
**Effect: Any Player can Normal Summon or set any monster from his or her hand at the cost of 1000 life points per number of monsters needed to tribute for them.**

"And I'll pay 2000 points to Special Summon Tyrant Dragon!"

**Mokuba/Rebecca: 6000**

**Tyrant Dragon**  
**Attribute: Fire**  
**Type: Dragon**  
**Level: 8**  
**Atk: 2900**  
**Def: 2500**  
**Effect: During your battle phase, if your opponent controls a Monster after this card's first attack, this card can attack once again.**  
**Effect2: Negate the effect of any trap cards that targets this card and destroy that trap card.**  
**Effect3: If this card is special summoned from the Graveyard by another card's effect, you must tribute 1 Dragon-Type monster.**

"And now I'll attack that Kaiser!" declared Mokuba.

"I don't think so," said Dox, "For I play 'Book of Moon'!"

**Book of Moon**  
**Type: Quick-Play Spell**  
**Effect: Target one Face-up monster on the field, change that target to facedown defense position.**

"Way to go, Mokuba!" said Rebecca, "You just gave away the lead to them!"

"Well, excuse me! I don't see you having a great start off!" replied Mokuba.

"Um, you mind not fighting each other," said Draco, "We would like to get out of here!"

Mokuba and Rebecca glared for another second, before turning away from each other.

"My turn's not done yet!" continued Mokuba, "I play 'Trade-In'. I discard 'Majestic Mech – Goryu' from my hand to draw two cards! Next, I'll set one card facedown to end my turn."

**Trade-In**  
**Type: Normal Spell**  
**Effect: Discard one level-eight monster. Draw two cards.**

"My go, and I play 'Tribute Doll' to sacrifice Jirai Gumo for Suijin!"

**Tribute Doll**  
**Type: Normal Spell**  
**Effect: Tribute one monster on your field. You can special summon one level-seven monster from your hand.**

**Suijin**  
**Attribute: Water**  
**Type: Aqua**  
**Level: 7**  
**Atk: 2500**  
**Def: 2400**  
**Effect: During your opponent's damage calculation, you can reduce the ATK of a monster attacking this card to 0. This effect can only be used once while this card remains face-up on the field.**

"And just when things couldn't get worse," remarked Rebecca.

"This is nothing," said Mokuba, "You should have seen the Deleted Scenes of the Duelist Kingdom Tournament. There's a lot you missed."

"Next, I add in Dark Designator!" continued Para.

**Dark Designator**  
**Type: Normal Spell**  
**Effect: Declare one monster card name. If the declared card is in your opponent's deck, add one of that card to your opponent's hand.**

"I choose: Sanga of the Thunder," declared Para.

"Thank you brother," said Dox, pulling it from his deck, "Now, rend them asunder!"

"Certainly," agreed Para,  
"Attack Suijin, destroy Luster Dragon!"

"I don't think so! Draining Shield!" countered Rebecca.

**Draining Shield**  
**Type: Normal Trap**  
**Effect: When an opponent's monster declares an attack: target the attacking monster; negate that attack, and if you do, gain life points equal to that card's attack.**

**Mokuba/Rebecca: 8500**

"Very well. I shall concede my turn," said Para, "However…"

"I shall take you down and watch you burn," added Dox.

"Never mind..." Mokuba sighed, the rhyming was gone for a little bit, but it was back and as annoying as ever.

"My turn," started Rebecca, "I pay 1000 life points to summon 'Armed Dragon LV5'!"

**Mokuba/Rebecca: 7500**

**Armed Dragon LV5**  
**Attribute: Wind**  
**Type: Dragon**  
**Level: 5**  
**Atk: 2400**  
**Def: 1700**  
**Effect: You can send 1 monster from your hand to the Graveyard to target 1 face-up monster your opponent controls with ATK less than or equal to the sent monster's ATK; destroy that target. During the End Phase, if this card destroyed a monster by battle this turn: You can send this face-up card to the Graveyard; Special Summon 1 "Armed Dragon LV7" from your hand or Deck.**

"Take down that Kaiser once and for all!" said Rebecca.

**Para/Dox: 7300**

"Before your turn ends," said Para, "I play 'Call of the Haunted' to bring Jirai Gumo back from the grave.

"I'll set a card and during my End Phase, I can trade in LV5 for 'Armed Dragon LV 7'!"

**Armed Dragon LV7**  
**Attribute: Wind**  
**Type: Dragon**  
**Level: 7**  
**Atk: 2800**  
**Def: 1000**  
**Effect: Cannot be Normal Summoned/Set. Must be Special Summoned by "Armed Dragon LV5", and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways. You can send 1 monster from your hand to the Graveyard; destroy all face-up monsters your opponent controls with ATK less than or equal to the sent monster's ATK.**

"Okay, that's not so bad, we just need to get a Blue Eyes in your hand though," said Mokuba, smirking a bit, "Though, Kaiba lending you one is less likely than turning this into a Shadow Game."

"Was that a joke?" quipped Rebecca, her lip twitching up for a second.

"Hey, if the punch line hits…?" replied Mokuba.

"Uh, guys, concentrate on the Duel!" said Ginny. Mokuba looked at his friend's sister, surprised that she had spoken out at all.

"Hate to interrupt this love fest, but I have a turn to take," said Dox, "And I play 'Pot of Greed'. Next, Monster Reborn and Tribute Doll to bring out Kaiser Sea Horse and tribute Jirai Gumo for Kazejin! Next, Kaiser Sea Horse gets traded for Sanga of the Thunder!"

"Okay, what did he just do?" asked Draco.

"He just summoned a Bunch of Monsters in one turn," replied Rebecca.

"I thought that was against the rules," queried Ron. "Then again, I never quite got this game..."

"Screw the Rules, I have…" started Mokuba, before stopping himself, a small blush appeared, "Sorry, wrong quote. What I meant was, he got around that rule by Spell cards, which is well within the rules."

"Oh," said Ron, his question answered. Mokuba was thankful the other three ignored his wrong quote.

Rebecca giggled. Mokuba guessed she did her research. The exact saying Mokuba almost completed was a rumor that went around Seto Kaiba; many people believed he used that excuse to Summon Blue Eyes to the field during his early career. To wasn't true but it was still an entertaining rumor. Mokuba saw out of the corner of his eye Ginny send a glare Rebecca's way for a second, not that Rebecca noticed.

"Next, I sacrifice Sanga, Kazejin and Suijin to Special Summon 'Gate Guardian'!" continued Dox.

**Gate Guardian**  
**Attribute: Dark**  
**Type: Warrior**  
**Level: 11**  
**Atk: 3750**  
**Def: 3400**  
**Effect: Can only be summoned by sacrificing 'Sanga', 'Kazejin', and 'Suijin' from the field.**

"Okay, this just got bad," said Mokuba worriedly.

"I don't have a card strong enough to activate my Dragon's ability on THAT!" added Rebecca, worry truly showing on her face now.

"Now, attack that Luster Dragon and deal some REAL damage!" ordered Dox.

**Mokuba/Rebecca: 7500-5650**

"You got a card for this?" asked Rebecca.

"It's in here somewhere," said Mokuba, "Here goes!"

'I don't have anything that can take down that Gate Guardian alone.'

"I'll start with 'Pot of Greed'! Next, I summon out Snipe Hunter, in attack mode! Now for a trick from Joey's book. I discard one card to activate its effect!"

**Snipe Hunter**  
**Attribute: Dark**  
**Type: Fiend**  
**Level: 4**  
**Atk: 1500**  
**Def: 600**  
**Effect: You can discard one to select one card on the field and roll one six-sided die. If the result is NOT 1 or 6, destroy the selected card.**  
**Dice Roll: 1**

"You gotta be kidding me?" exclaimed Mokuba, before sweatdropping,  
"Joey always gets the lucky shots, and he's unlucky to begin with. That's just not fair."

"Come on Mokuba!" called out Ron, "Don't let this set you back!"

Mokuba eyes then started to focus again. "I set one card facedown and end my turn."

"And it's over to me! I pay 1000 life points to summon Millennium Shield in Attack Mode. Next, I'll play 'Block Attack' to change it into Defense mode. I'll set one card and end my turn."

**Para/Dox: 6300**

"A Millennium Shield? My Grandpa has that card in his deck," said Rebecca, before begrudgingly admitted "Shield and Guardian: good combo."

"Hey, at least we're not Amateurs," said Mokuba, trying to keep her spirits up, "We can beat these guys. I know it."

"Thanks Mokuba," smiled Rebecca, before drawing, "Let's do this!"

'Unfortunately, Armed Dragon LV10 hasn't been released yet, not even the advanced copies. It would have come in handy,' thought Mokuba as Rebecca looked through her cards.

"I play 'Dragon Treasure' to my Armed Dragon, and then play my facedown: Dragon's Rage!"

**Dragon's Rage**  
**Type: Continuous Trap**  
**Effect: Dragon-type monsters now inflict piercing damage during calculation.**

"That'll take down that Shield," said Draco.

"And some of their life points as well," added Ron.

Both of them looked at each other at this, before looking away, making Mokuba sigh. He knew there was still bad blood between them though they were trying to ignore it for Mokuba's sake, which he was thankful for. He was even more thankful that they got along very well most of the time.

"I'm worried about what Dox has next turn," said Ginny, getting their attention back on the duel. Mokuba had to agree he was too.

"Attack that Millennium Shield!" called out Rebecca.

**Para/Dox: 6200**

"I'll set two cards facedown and end my turn."

"And now, feel the power of the Gate Guardian!" said Dox, "I add in 'Fairy Meteor Crush' to my Guardian and attack that facedown Tyrant Dragon your protecting!"

**Mokuba/Rebecca: 4400**

"I'll set one card and end my turn," finished Dox.

"Okay, let's see if this is gonna help. I'll start by sacrificing both our monsters for Felgrand Dragon! Next, I'll play 'Double Summon' to replace Felgrand with 'Great Maju Garzett'!" Mokuba said.

**Great Maju Garzett**  
**Attribute: Dark**  
**Type: Fiend**  
**Level: 6**  
**Atk: 0**  
**Def: 0**  
**Effect: This card's attack becomes twice the original attack of the monster sacrificed for this card.**

"When did you get this card?" asked Rebecca.

"Kaiba Corp Vice President. I get access to a lot of cards you can't even see in international tournaments," replied Mokuba casually.

"But why summon a monster with 0 attack points?" asked Ginny.

"He has a powerful effect, Ginny," explained Rebecca, "And you're about to see it in action!"

**Great Maju Garzett**  
**Atk: 0-5600**

"Attack that Gate Guardian now!" ordered Mokuba.

**Para/Dox: 6200-4350**

**Mokuba/Rebecca: 4400**

"That evened things up," said Mokuba, ending his turn.

"Now, let's take it up a notch," said Para, "I play 'Dark Element'! This let's me bring out 'Dark Guardian'!"

**Dark Element**  
**Type: Normal Spell**  
**Effect: Activate only if 'Gate Guardian' is in your (team's) graveyard. Pay half your life points to special-summon 1 'Dark Guardian' from your deck. You cannot normal summon or set this turn.**

**Dark Guardian**  
**Attribute: Dark**  
**Type: Warrior**  
**Level: 12**  
**Atk/Def: 3800**  
**Effect: Can only be summoned by the effect of 'Dark Element'.**  
**Effect2: Cannot be destroyed in battle.**

**Para/Dox: 2175**

"Next, I'll add in 'Riryoku'!" continued Para, "And I think I'll take that Maju's points for my Guardian!"

**Riryoku**  
**Type: Normal Spell**  
**Effect: Select 2 face-up monsters on the field. Halve the attack of one monster and add that amount to the attack of the other, until the end phase.**

**Maju Garzett**  
**Atk: 5600-2800**  
**Dark Guardian**  
**Atk: 3800-6600**

**Mokuba/Rebecca: 4400**

"Rebecca, you got a card to spare, cause I activate 'Emergency Provisions'!"

"Go for it!" replied Rebecca, sending Dragon's Rage to the graveyard, just before their monster was destroyed.

**Mokuba/Rebecca: 4400-5400-1600**

The shockwave sent both of them off their feet and crashing onto the ground.

"Oh no, their hurt!" called out Ginny.

Draco grabbed onto Ron before he got too far.

"Let me go, Draco!" Ron, "I gotta get to them! Or do you not care!"

"And hurt yourself!" countered Draco. "Remember, we step outside this square, we get shocked with a 1000 volts of electricity, or do you still think I don't care?"

Ron's eyes widened, he did forget about that during the duel. There was just so much going on, and nobody reminded them like the clichéd villains did from time to time.

"Then what do we do," said Ron, as Draco released him.

"Trust in them," said Ginny, closing her eyes at the sight of her hero and his friend all roughed up like that, "They are the only ones who can set us free."

'I never thought she would trust Rebecca. She believes in me, in us, to win this duel.' thought Mokuba, 'I'm not about to let her down now! They are all my friends, and I will protect them.' Rebecca looked like she was having similar thoughts.

Mokuba and Rebecca got up slowly, shakily, before looking to each other. They nodded, knowing that by working together, they can still get through this.

"My go!" said Rebecca, and as she looked at her card. Mokuba watched as she looked shock then said then determined. "I set this card in defense mode, and end my turn."

"If that's all you have," said Dox, "Then this duel is over already! I play 'Brain Control' and take control of Dark Guardian! Attack her facedown monster!"

Dark Guardian swung his oversized Ax at Rebecca's facedown, before an unbreakable sword shot up and deflected the blow. The Sword belonged to a Guardian; a Guardian of the Celtic Descent, it was a Guardian of the Celtic Descent that was more Obnoxious than most other monsters in Duel Monsters. It was the Obnoxious Celtic Guardian, and he wasn't about to go anywhere. Or so he thought.

"Not bad, but it won't be enough," said Dox, "I play 'Shield Crush' and destroy that pathetic Guardian!"

Rebecca and Mokuba's last line of defense was gone.

"And that's not all, I add in 'Mystical Space Typhoon' to destroy that Mausoleum!"

**Para/Dox: 1375**

**Mokuba/Rebecca: 1600**

Mokuba raised an eyebrow. "The Obnoxious Celtic Guardian? When did you get that?"

Rebecca looked at him. "Yugi."

_(Flashback)_

_The day before, when her plane arrived, Yugi was there waiting for her. Part of her was overjoyed at the prospect of YUGI waiting for HER. The other part was relieved to know that he still cared about their friendship, even though she had been clingy the past year or so. She'd liked to believe she was mature enough to let bygones be bygones and made up with Anzu, becoming friends with her at last. She had said her farewells with her grandfather before she got on the plane, so it was just her until she got to Kaiba Corp. After getting her bags, Yugi escorted her down to her transport to Kaiba Corp. Just before they parted ways, Yugi brought her into a hug, unbeknownst to her at the time, sneaked in a card into her deck, before releasing the blushing girl and heading off to his own car. _

_(Flashback End)_

"Ok." Mokuba looked at his one card in his hand that didn't help. Two cards. That's what the two of them were left with. One card facedown on the field and one in Mokuba's hand that didn't help and they were facing down an all-but-indestructible monster. Mokuba had to make his next card count. He drew it.

It was Axe of Despair.

This card could certainly clinch the duel for them, if they had the right monster to equip it to. He then remembered his trap card facedown; it could help him in this time of need.

"I play my facedown, Jar of Greed," said Mokuba, drawing one more card from his deck, his last chance, "I play 'Premature Burial' to bring back 'Felgrand Dragon'!"

**Mokuba/Rebecca: 900**

**Felgrand Dragon**  
**Attribute: Light**  
**Type: Dragon**  
**Level: 8**  
**Atk/Def: 2800**  
**Effect: This card cannot be Special Summoned except from the graveyard, and only if it was sent from the field first.**  
**Effect2: When this card is special summoned, you can select one monster in your graveyard. This card gains attack points equal to the level of that monster x200.**

"And I choose Goryu, a level 8 monster!" continued Mokuba.

**Felgrand Dragon**  
**Atk: 2800-4400**

"Not bad, but not only will our monster survive, you won't be able to finish us off!" said Para.

"Oh really," said Mokuba, before getting a Kaiba look in his eyes, "TIME TO SHOW YOU WHY I AM A KAIBA! I'M MOKUBA FREAKIN KAIBA AND I PLAY 'AXE OF DESPAIR'!"

**Felgrand Dragon**  
**Atk: 4400-5400**

Mokuba then looked over at Rebecca and smiled, "Shall we?"

"Let's end this," replied Rebecca, smiling back.

"ATTACK DARK GUARDIAN AND END THIS DUEL, GOLDEN AXE FLARE!"

**Para/Dox: 0**  
**Mokuba/Rebecca: 900**

"WE DID IT!" shouted Rebecca, hugging Mokuba in jubilant glee, leaving him with a heavy blush as she released him. The electric field was shut off and the others ran over to the two of them.

"Way to go!" Draco cheered.

"But the next time we want to see a duel, how about when it's not life threatening?" Ron commented and everybody chuckled. Not because it was funny but because Ron could joke about it right after it happened. After a moment, Mokuba turned to the ParaDox brothers who were trying to open the door.

"Did you trap us a little too good?" Mokuba questioned. "Who told you to do this? The only people you should have a grudge against is Yugi and Joey, not any of us!"

"We don't know, he was wearing a skull mask." Para snapped.

"We can't answer you, so don't ask!" Dox glared and Mokuba sighed. The rhyming was back. The brothers had finally gotten the door open and the kids made no attempt to stop them. They knew they couldn't anyway. But they didn't have too, as before the brothers could leave the doorway, they were hit by a red light and fell to the floor unconscious.

"Looks like the adults are here." Draco commented.

"Hey Ginny," Ron brought the kids's attention to his as he turned to his sister. "Since when do you talk in front of Mokuba?"

Ginny blushed. "I don't know where that came from, but..." She bite her lip. "I don't care anymore. Harry Potter was gone now, Mokuba Kaiba was all that was left and if I want to be his friend, then I have to let go of the past and embrace new friendships as well," She glanced at Rebecca. "Starting with Rebecca."

"Aw. Thanks Ginny." Rebecca smiled at the redhead girl. "So, friends?"

Ginny smiled back. "Friends."

xXx

_**Thank you, RedDragonforce 1 for the duel. **_

_**Do you think we can get to 100 reveiws before we go to the next story, Mokuba Kaiba and the Chamber of Secrets? No pressure and we still have a chapters to go before we get to the next year.**_

_**And someone besides the one I already explained it to, so here is my explanation about Mokuba's love protection. The love protection and the blood wards, I know they're two different things, but in my mind, they played on each other. Made each other stronger so that, even if Voldemort could get past the love protection he couldn't get past the blood wards, as the love protection was still there and making it stronger. Also, I have a nice little headcanon that Voldemort is a coward and doesn't like to fight people who *may* beat him without some of his death eaters and *they* certainly couldn't get past the blood wards. Mokuba still has the love protection, but since it's weakened from not being around the blood wards, it would only work on Voldemort himself, not just Quirrell who was like an insolator. Does that make sense? If it doesn't, say so and I'll try to explain again because I'm really pushing HP canon.**_


End file.
